Comparing files but ignoring previously accepted differenes

[harjit]

I'm trying to support multiple hardware platforms with one code base.

For the device dependent code, I would like to compare the equivalent files and then save off the differences so that future comparisons don't bring up those differences.

This way, if I make a new change to either file, I'll only see those new changes and I can repeat the process after I've integrated and tested the new changes.

Any suggestions on how I can do this with Beyond Compare?

Thanks,
Harjit

[Aaron]

Hello Harjit,

Do you have BC3 Pro? If so you can load up our Text Merge and load 3 files in it: the common ancestor in the center, your updated file on one side, and saved/accepted changes file on the other side. Assuming the saved/accepted changes file is on the right, then use the View menu -> Favor Right to automatically accept and remove the coloring from any right changes. If there is a change on the same line on both the left and right, it would be marked as a conflict.

How does this work for you?

[harjit]

Aaron, BC3 Pro sounds promising.

I assume I can use BC3 to generate the "acceptable" difference file?

[harjit]

Aaron, is there a way to do the comparison with entire directories i.e. I have source set A in one directory, source set B in another directory and diff set AB in another directory and I can then quickly go through the changes?

[Aaron]

We wrote up this KB article as a general case in response to your initial forum post. How does this work for you?

http://www.scootersoftware.com/support.php?zz=kb_parallelupdates

[Aaron]

Hello,

We do not support 3 way Folder Comparisons or Folder Merges yet. You can use a folder compare to quickly load two files into a Text Merge, but would need to manually load the third file into that session.

(Alternately, you can trigger a 3 way Text Merge by selecting 3 files, if you have all 3 files visible in the Folder Compare at the same time.)

You can also trigger a 3 way Text merge using the shell context menu, by right clicking each file and selecting it with the right click menu, or dragging files from Windows Explorer over and onto the Text Merge panes.