diffs on Windows?

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Carwash

Señor Member
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Visby
On Unix-like systems, if I make changes to source/text files to send to someone else, I'd usually create a diff so that they can then just patch their copy of the files.

I'm about to do that - but in this case I suspect that the ultimate recipient of the changes will actually be running Windows. Is it safe to assume that a Windows bod will a) know what a diff is, and B) be able to make use of it?

If not, what's the analogous standard practice among Windows developers? I'd rather not have to send my full, amended copy of the source, and less still an email of the form, '…on line X, change Y to Z…' etc.

(Yeah, sounds like a job for GitHub, I know… let's just not go there!)
Many thanks in advance!
 
We would normally just targzip the entire thing to send to each other, mainly because half of us use GitSubversion and half don't. Ultimately it saves times fiddling at both ends.

Diff is cool, but different environments handle things differently.
 
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Carwash

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Thanks for the response, 2Loose. Zipping it all up is certainly an option, but it means that the changes I've made will not be highlighted: as well as sending the update, I'd like them to easily see what I've changed and where.

Does Windows really not have an equivalent of diff/patch? How would you normally compare two files?
 
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Carwash

Carwash

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Thanks for that Ben! fc is a new one on me. :biggrin: However unless I'm missing something, it doesn't look like the output can be applied to a file in the manner of patch. :/
 

CopperBrompton

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No, it simply outputs the differences between the two. There are tonnes of Windows file-comparison and merge tools around: download.com is a good place to look.
 
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Carwash

Carwash

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John the Monkey said:
We use WinMerge & WinDiff, as I recall - very popular with our windows based developers.
Thanks John - those will make patch files! Weirdly though, neither seem to be able to apply patch files (so what's the point of being able to create them?!). However, the useful WinMerge FAQ page has answered my question: if in doubt, I will direct my upstream contact to GNU Utils for Win32 which includes versions of both diff and patch for Windows. :rofl:
Very useful to learn that all these things exist - fc, WinMerge, gnuwin32, etc.
 
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