OSX

[gadgeteria]

Hi -- I find BC indispensable, and with Linux support it seems like it's only a short hop to full Mac support. Any chance that'd be on the drawing board?

[Chris]

We'd like to have a Mac version of BC3. The main thing holding us back is that Beyond Compare is written in Delphi, which isn't supported on the Mac. We don't have the resources to rewrite Beyond Compare in another language.

The makers of Delphi have announced that they are working on a Mac version, although they haven't set a release date for it. If Mac support for Delphi is released we'll look into the possibility of a Mac port.

You can also consult the older BC on Mac thread for more discussion on this topic: http://www.scootersoftware.com/vbull...ead.php?t=3587

[gadgeteria]

Thanks, Chris! Sorry, I should've dug a bit deeper for an existing thread on the subject. I appreciate the info, though -- I can sure understand not being willing to undertake a full rewrite at this point. C'mon, team Delphi!

[gks]

@Chris

Hi Chris,

I am another BC enthusiast. Your product Beyond Compare is one of the best pieces of software I have ever used. It is perfectly intuitive and easy to use. Like many others who have posted I am now doing a great deal of development on the Mac.

As a suggestion, have you considered using the Free Pascal compiler http://www.freepascal.org? It seems they have worked out the bugs with linking when using it with xCode for compiling compiling for OX 10.6 (Snow Leopard). There is a note about an issue with OX 10.6 on the main page, but reading through the bug report (linked) seems to indicate that the issue was solved (?).

Just a friendly suggestion from an enthusiastic customer. And for what it is worth, I find BS so important to my work I would I would easily pay twice the cost for a working Mac version. Currently using DeltaWalker and not liking it.

Thanks,
~Greg

[Zoë]

Hi Greg,

We actually can compile BC with FreePascal; the holdup is the widget set. BC has a lot of custom controls and dialogs, so rewriting the front end in Cocoa isn't feasible.

We did a bunch of work to port BC to [url=http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/Lazarus[/url], but it was it was buggy, unstable, and incomplete. We estimated that Delphi's Mac support would be out by the time we got it releasable, so we postponed further work on it.

Delphi's Mac support has been delayed a year, but we're still in the same position: Using Delphi everywhere is better for us long term, and it's coming out relatively soon. As much as we want to get a Mac version out, pouring months of time into a Lazarus version just to drop it in a year or two isn't a good use of resources.

[gks]

Thanks for the reply Chris. I totally get your why your holding off.

Waiting patiently,
~Greg

[DEinspanjer]

BC3 on OSX via Crossover

Just want to make sure people who visit this thread know that it is possible to run the Windows version of BC3 on a Mac through Crossover which is a custom tailoring of Wine to the OSX platform.

There are a few small glitches such as the integrated update feature not working, but in general, it works fine and it delivers significant performance improvements over running through a VM.

Not only do I use it to compare files and folders on my MBP itself, I frequently use it to compare directories on different remote servers through SFTP.

As always, BC is the most appropriately named program ever. I look forward to the day when the native OSX version is released so I can purchase an additional license to thank Scooter Software again.

[gadgeteria]

Thanks for posting, DEinspanjer. I guess MBP means MacBook Pro? Sounds like a potentially good workaround. I've never tried Crossover, but this might be a good chance to do so.

[GaryPallett]

BC3 on OSX using Crossover

I can confirm that BC3 does indeed run nicely using Crossover on OSX and in fact I've been able to also integrate it into MacHG (for Mercurial repositories).

A "How To" on running BC3 on Crossover via command line and integration into MacHG is here on my blog:

http://www.garypallett.com/2011/usin...for-mercurial/

Gary

[Aaron]

Thanks for the tip, Gary. I'm going to re-post this in our Source Control forum as well.

[westhomas]

Looks like the above link is no longer available. Does anyone have a copy of the information? I'm seeking to find out how to launch BC from a Mac terminal window using Crossover.