Re: New feature suggestion for Meld

[Kai Willadsen <kai willadsen gmail com>]

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On 22 September 2013 15:49, Itai Bar-Haim <itaibh gmail com> wrote:
> Showing binary differences as Hex is probably not that useful.
> Bringing up a message that says if two binary files are different is much
> more useful.

I've routinely found hex diffs to be incredibly useful, but that's
beside the point.

Why do you want to see whether binary files are different in a file
comparison? How have you arrived at a file comparison in Meld without
going through something else that *already* tells you whether the
files are different?

> The most common scenario of wanting to know if binary file has changed is
> when comparing version controlled source of an application, and comparing
> library (.dll, .so) files. The name is the same, sometimes the size is the
> same, yet I want to know if they have changed.

...that's what the version control system (and Meld's version control
view) is for.

> Same goes for image files, unless you can provide an image comparison
> utility.
> I don't think there's a good way for providing a sound file comparison
> utility (except for maybe presenting them both side by side and letting you
> play each one, maybe marking the different part in the sound).

I think there's an open bug for image comparisons, but it's not a priority.

cheers,
Kai