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Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Beyond Compare 5 – out since mid 2024, and not many bug fixes needed so far: be sure to upgrade

Posted by jpluimers on 2024/12/19

Being back in the field after quite a long time made me notice I missed the Beyond Compare 5 release mid this year.

It did not need many upgrades so far which is a really good sign. Unlike many other places that release software way too early, Scooter Software seems to have focused on quality first, which nowadays is rare. Great!

Below are some links to get you up to speed, especially since it is available on Home Brew, Chocolatey and various other package installers:

Announcements:

Info and downloads:

Install packages:

The trial is 90 days, after which you can buy it here (or upgrade if you already have an account the the site):

[Wayback/Archive] Buy Beyond Compare

Their beta was very well thought out, even the change in licensing was discussed way ahead of launch: [Wayback/Archive] BC5 Pro, needs new license type in the Support –> License Upgrade Checkout Page – Scooter Forums

The beta ended almost two months ago giving beta testers plenty of time go get the discounted upgrade licenses: just compare these two archived versions of the beta licensing page:

Oh, on Beyond Compare licensing, this page shows you on various platforms (Linux, MacOS, Windows) where the various license files and configurations are stored: [Wayback/Archive] Knowledge Base – Evaluate Pro when Licensed for Standard

  • Beyond Compare 4

    If you are licensed for Beyond Compare Standard Edition but you want to evaluate Pro Edition features, you can place BC back into trial mode.

    To restore trial mode, close Beyond Compare, then rename the file where your license key is saved from BC4Key.txt to BC4Key.back. (This is an example. You will use the key filename corresponding to your version.)

    License key location

    • Windows, current user:  C:UsersusernameAppDataRoamingScooter SoftwareBeyond Compare 4BC4Key.txt
    • Windows, all users:  C:Program FilesBeyond Compare 4BC4Key.txt
    • macOS, current user:  /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Beyond Compare/BC4Key.txt
    • macOS, all users:  /Applications/Beyond Compare.app/Contents/MacOS/BC4Key.txt
    • Linux, current user:  ~username/.config/bcompare/BC4Key.txt
    • Linux, all users:  /etc/BC4Key.txt or /usr/lib64/beyondcompare/BC4Key.txt

    After you’ve renamed the license key, run Beyond Compare, then select Help | About Beyond Compare from the menu (or Beyond Compare | About Beyond Compare on macOS).  Check Evaluate Pro Edition features.  Restart Beyond Compare.  When you are finished evaluating the Pro Edition, rename BC4Key.back to BC4Key.txt to restore your license.

  • Beyond Compare 5

    If you are licensed for Beyond Compare Standard Edition but you want to evaluate Pro Edition features, you can place BC back into trial mode.

    To restore trial mode, close Beyond Compare, then rename the file where your license key is saved from BC5Key.txt to BC5Key.back. (This is an example. You will use the key filename corresponding to your version.)

    License key location

    • Windows, current user:  C:UsersusernameAppDataRoamingScooter SoftwareBeyond Compare 5BC5Key.txt
    • Windows, all users:  C:Program FilesBeyond Compare 5BC5Key.txt
    • Windows, all users, v5 alternate location:  C:ProgramDataScooter SoftwareBeyond Compare 5BC5Key.txt
    • macOS, current user:  /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Beyond Compare/BC5Key.txt
    • macOS, all users:  /Applications/Beyond Compare.app/Contents/MacOS/BC5Key.txt
    • Linux, current user:  ~username/.config/bcompare/BC5Key.txt
    • Linux, all users:  /etc/BC5Key.txt or /usr/lib64/beyondcompare/BC5Key.txt

    After you’ve renamed the license key, run Beyond Compare, then select Help | About Beyond Compare from the menu (or Beyond Compare | About Beyond Compare on macOS).  Check Evaluate Pro Edition features.  Restart Beyond Compare.  When you are finished evaluating the Pro Edition, rename BC5Key.back to BC5Key.txt to restore your license.

Before having the license, I had to temporarily live with pinned chocolatey versions.

This was how to pin it:

choco pin add --name="'beyondcompare'" --version="'4.4.7.20240301'"

This was how to unpin it:

choco pin remote --name="'beyondcompare'"

--jeroen

This entry was posted on 2024/12/19 at 18:00 and is filed under Development, Software Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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