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Hi Keith, > What I am looking for is a merge application > (open source/free) that uses three files - one a base file, > and to changed files to generate a composite file. It also > needs to display all of this graphically... Any ideas? Yes see below. I presume you're looking for a 3-way because you want to specify where the output should go. You can do this by making a copy of a directory and working on the copy. A three-way merge is something else - useful for when you have a base file from which TWO lines of development have occurred. > I know source safe had one, but it sucked pretty bad. It sure did. > It would be nicest if you could manually edit file right in > the merge application. I often have six or more copies (aka sandboxes) of my project checked out at any one time, each containing changes for a particular bug or feature enhancement. Often (for testing), I need to move changes from one sandbox to another. The two tools I use are WinMerge and jEdit's jdiff mode. You can get WinMerge here: http://winmerge.sourceforge.net/ It has a couple of minor warts, but it's a very easy-to-use merge tool. After choosing a file from the list of changed files, the two version are presented side-by-side. You use the up/down arrows to cruise through the changes, and left/right to copy a difference from one file to the other. It's great for propagating a change into both, or for cancelling out an unwanted change. For times when the files need hand-editing, I use the "JDiff" plugin for jEdit: http://plugins.jedit.org/plugins/?JDiffPlugin They are both very good, and will run under Windows. If you are willing to try out XEmacs, it has a VERY good diff/merge tool called "ediff". As well as having a true three-way diff/merge tool, it also refines diffs at the word level. For example, you would immediately be able to see that the only difference in some code was the formatting, or that a single word had been added to a paragraph (even if the paragraph had been reflowed). http://www.xemacs.org/ http://www.xemacs.org/Documentation/packages/html/ediff.html (Yes, you can get this for Windows as well. A great editor/religion/way-of-life, but it could be a bit of a learning curve. Hope this helps. Mitch. PS: If this was of use to you, would you consider putting it into the CVSNT wiki? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ The information contained in this message and any attachments is confidential and intended for the named recipient(s). If you have received this message in error, please contact sender by return e-mail and destroy the message and any attachments. Any opinions or undertakings expressed in this message are those of the individual sender except where the sender expressly and with authority states them to be the opinions of Extel. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------