WinMerge 2.8.6 Release Notes

August 2008

About This Release

This is a new WinMerge stable release which is recommended and replaces earlier 2.6.x versions.

Compared to the 2.6.x releases, there are many improvements beneficial to the usage of WinMerge. Some areas of improvement include: Improved UTF-8 file detection and opening of binary files. Another significant improvement is the new localization system. This simplifies the translation process of WinMerge.

Please submit bug reports to our bug-tracker.

What Is New in 2.8.6?

For a complete changelog history, see the ChangeLog.txt file located in the Docs folder under the WinMerge program folder.

Changes

What Is New in 2.8.4?

Changes

What Is New in 2.8.2?

Changes

Translations

Several translations were updated and three new translations were added:

What Is New in 2.8.0?

Changes

What Is New in 2.8 RC?

Detect UTF-8 Files Without BOM Bytes

Until now, WinMerge could not detect UTF-8 files without a BOM (Byte-order) marker. Opening such files with WinMerge caused segments of the file(s) to render improperly on the screen. UTF-8 files without BOM bytes are now properly detected and displayed.

Open Binary Files

WinMerge could not display files it detected as binary in previous versions. WinMerge did however compare the files and returned the results as either "binary files are identical" or "binary files are different." Starting with this release, WinMerge now shows all files in the file compare, including binary files. Bytes that have no visual representation (character) are displayed with its byte value.

NOTE: WinMerge is not a binary file editor. Do not damage your binary files!

Resolve Conflict Files

The oldest open feature request has finally been implented! WinMerge can now open "conflict files" that several version control systems (CVS, Subversion, etc.) output. A conflict file is seperated into two files?"theirs" and "mine." These files are then displayed for typical file compare and merging.

Other Changes

Important Bugs Fixed

What Is New in 2.7.6?

New Localization System

The most significant change in this release is the new localization system. This new system is based on the widely used PO files. PO files are text files that have both the original (English) text and the translated text together. Since PO files are text files, they are simple and intuitive to edit. WinMerge no longer uses DLL resources for translations and therefore, no compiling will ever be required. One can now edit the PO files on-the-fly, re-start WinMerge, and the changes will be reflected immediately.

See WinMerge web site for more information about translations: http://winmerge.org/translations/

In conclusion: PO files have replaced LANG files in Languages-subfolder.

Translations

Several translations were again updated. We expect things to improve with translation statuses, as the new system is so much easier to use.

New Croatian and Portuguese translations were added.

Other Changes

Important Bugs Fixed

What Is New in 2.7.4?

Important Bugs Fixed

What Is New in 2.7.2?

Important Bugs Fixed

Known Issues