4 ms·

One of the things I like in P4Merge is having 4 panes - the two versions, their common ancestor, and the final merge result. Can you get all these in Meld as we

by m12k 4y ago

One of the things I like in P4Merge is having 4 panes - the two versions, their common ancestor, and the final merge result. Can you get all these in Meld as well?

ulrikrasmussen 4y ago
P4merge is my favorite merge tool for this reason. It's also really good at solving whitespace conflicts for you. I became familiar with it at a previous job that used perforce, and I have just kept using it with git. It's free to download, although you have to fill out an annoying form.
WalterGR 4y ago
I've always been puzzled by 4-way merge not being more common. Support is quite rare. KDiff3 is another tool that supports it.
- hprotagonist 4y ago
  KDiff3 is so consistently good and itself. I’ve been using it for ever; i don't expect to stop.
  - gpvos 4y ago
    Beyond Compare (not free) seems to have all kdiff3's features, plus some nice features for comparing tables (CSV or Excel) (although you need to tweak the defaults to make them actually useful). Also, it has syntax highlighting in its diff view, and I find its directory diff nicer than kdiff3's. I haven't used it for merging yet though; although it has three-way merge, I just am more familiar with kdiff3 and trust it since I've been using it for more than 20 years now.
- eastbound 4y ago
  I’ve always been puzzled by 3-way merge being remotely common. It’s almost “Here’s your latest file on two branches, good luck!” — There is obviously one leg missing but dare pointing it to a developer and he will tell you “But we have everything there” and when you draw a graph to explain the conceptual problem, “Ok but in general the two ancestors are common.” A fortnight later, they wreck a merge and they spend their afternoon re-merging conflicts they’ve already had. Such people almost always use the git tools provided in IntelliJ.
  - pjerem 4y ago
    > Such people almost always use the git tools provided in IntelliJ. OTOH, IntelliJ’s "Magic wand" is totally worth the hassle.
  - WalterGR 4y ago
    > but dare pointing it to a developer and he will tell you Sadomasochism runs deep. If you’re not suffering for your craft, you’re not a Real Programmer.
  - onetom 4y ago
    In my experience, ppl who are using command-line git or magit in Emacs are tying a knot on their genitals with trying to merge branches way more often than ppl using IntelliJ. I wouldn't know how to explain what does the magic wand do, but it seems a huge waste of time NOT having it in other merge solutions. I can't remember a case where it the magic wand was causing a semantic error and I'm using it for 7-8 years by now. Mostly in Clojure code though.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
newaccount74 4y ago
P4Merge is one of the few cross-platform apps that I use on the Mac because the functionality is so good. I hate how the UI looks like a half-assed rip-off of Windows 95, but it's the only tool I know that shows me everything I want to see when merging / rebasing git branches. I think it also allows comparing 3 or more arbitrary files, which seems like a pretty basic task that most diff tools just can't do at all.
ars 4y ago
This lack in Meld is exactly why I switched to kdiff3 for merges. It's just too hard with Meld. But Meld is great at 2 way merges, and allowing you to selectively apply changes.

by m12k 4y ago

One of the things I like in P4Merge is having 4 panes - the two versions, their common ancestor, and the final merge result. Can you get all these in Meld as well?

ulrikrasmussen 4y ago

P4merge is my favorite merge tool for this reason. It's also really good at solving whitespace conflicts for you. I became familiar with it at a previous job that used perforce, and I have just kept using it with git. It's free to download, although you have to fill out an annoying form.

WalterGR 4y ago

I've always been puzzled by 4-way merge not being more common. Support is quite rare. KDiff3 is another tool that supports it.

hprotagonist 4y ago
KDiff3 is so consistently good and itself. I’ve been using it for ever; i don't expect to stop.
- gpvos 4y ago
  Beyond Compare (not free) seems to have all kdiff3's features, plus some nice features for comparing tables (CSV or Excel) (although you need to tweak the defaults to make them actually useful). Also, it has syntax highlighting in its diff view, and I find its directory diff nicer than kdiff3's. I haven't used it for merging yet though; although it has three-way merge, I just am more familiar with kdiff3 and trust it since I've been using it for more than 20 years now.
eastbound 4y ago
I’ve always been puzzled by 3-way merge being remotely common. It’s almost “Here’s your latest file on two branches, good luck!” — There is obviously one leg missing but dare pointing it to a developer and he will tell you “But we have everything there” and when you draw a graph to explain the conceptual problem, “Ok but in general the two ancestors are common.” A fortnight later, they wreck a merge and they spend their afternoon re-merging conflicts they’ve already had. Such people almost always use the git tools provided in IntelliJ.
- pjerem 4y ago
  > Such people almost always use the git tools provided in IntelliJ. OTOH, IntelliJ’s "Magic wand" is totally worth the hassle.
- WalterGR 4y ago
  > but dare pointing it to a developer and he will tell you Sadomasochism runs deep. If you’re not suffering for your craft, you’re not a Real Programmer.
- onetom 4y ago
  In my experience, ppl who are using command-line git or magit in Emacs are tying a knot on their genitals with trying to merge branches way more often than ppl using IntelliJ. I wouldn't know how to explain what does the magic wand do, but it seems a huge waste of time NOT having it in other merge solutions. I can't remember a case where it the magic wand was causing a semantic error and I'm using it for 7-8 years by now. Mostly in Clojure code though.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

newaccount74 4y ago

P4Merge is one of the few cross-platform apps that I use on the Mac because the functionality is so good. I hate how the UI looks like a half-assed rip-off of Windows 95, but it's the only tool I know that shows me everything I want to see when merging / rebasing git branches. I think it also allows comparing 3 or more arbitrary files, which seems like a pretty basic task that most diff tools just can't do at all.

ars 4y ago

This lack in Meld is exactly why I switched to kdiff3 for merges. It's just too hard with Meld. But Meld is great at 2 way merges, and allowing you to selectively apply changes.