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Idea #16129: compare (text) files

Written by moose the 2 Dec 08 at 05:57. Related project: Nautilus. Status: New
Rationale
When you copy/move a file, it asks you if you'd like to replace an existing file with the same name. If its a textfile it should be easy to compare them. Wikipedia has such a comparison of textfiles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ubuntu&diff=255175032&oldid=254757707

This should only be an option. If you want to compare two files the size of the files should be checked and you should get a warning if they are very big. If they are small enough a bitwise comparison should be possible.

This could be an example (quite bad because its in german and I'm not a designer ... if someone could make a better one it would be nice):
http://www.martin-thoma.de/ubuntu/warning.png

This idea is an improvement of http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/16120/
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #16129
Written by moose the 2 Dec 08 at 05:57.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #16129 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

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gmatht wrote on the 2 Dec 08 at 16:24
Kompare allows you to compare and merge text-files (and I think there are Gnome equivalents like gtkdiff and meld). So we could just link this button to one of these apps.

Endolith wrote on the 2 Dec 08 at 20:49
Install Meld and use it to compare the files.

Endolith wrote on the 2 Dec 08 at 20:51
I agree it should be built in when trying to overwrite a file with another of the same name, though.


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