WinMerge is an Open Source differencing and merging tool for Windows. WinMerge can compare both folders and files, presenting differences in a visual text format that is easy to understand and handle.
In Windows, I have a folder that contains symbolic links to files elsewhere on my drive.
Let's say that a file is modified on 2024-04-10 14:00 (note :00) and that a symbolic link to it is created on 2024-04-10 14:30 (note :30).
When doing a Modified Date and Size comparison, if the file is missing from the right side, doing a Copy to Right copies the actual file (not the symlink), as expected.
But then, after refreshing the comparison, the file still shows as different. The Left Date (symlink/original file) shows '2024-04-10 14 :30' and the Right Date shows '2024-04-10 14 :00'.
The comparison is done between the Date / Time of the Symbolic Link on the left and the Date / Time of the actual copied file on the right, which has the original file Date / Time.
When comparing a symbolic link with an actual file, the time/date of the actual file (not the symlink) should be used.
In Windows, I have a folder that contains symbolic links to files elsewhere on my drive.
Let's say that a file is modified on
2024-04-10 14:00(note:00) and that a symbolic link to it is created on2024-04-10 14:30(note:30).When doing a Modified Date and Size comparison, if the file is missing from the right side, doing a Copy to Right copies the actual file (not the symlink), as expected.
But then, after refreshing the comparison, the file still shows as different. The Left Date (symlink/original file) shows '2024-04-10 14 :30' and the Right Date shows '2024-04-10 14 :00'.
The comparison is done between the Date / Time of the Symbolic Link on the left and the Date / Time of the actual copied file on the right, which has the original file Date / Time.
When comparing a symbolic link with an actual file, the time/date of the actual file (not the symlink) should be used.