pb-diff Help

pb-diff compares and merges PowerBuilder source code. It parses objects into their logical sections (variable blocks, functions, events, controls, DataWindow bands) and compares them section by section, so that a file which was reorganised but not changed does not read as a wall of differences.

New to pb-diff? Start with What pb-diff does and Getting started, then follow the tutorials, which use the Order Desk examples installed with pb-diff. Press F1 in any tab or dialog to open its own page, and use the search box at the top of every page to find anything else. Help ▸ pb-diff Help and the pb-diff Help shortcut in the Start menu open this page.

Getting started

What pb-diff does Why a text diff fails on PowerBuilder, and what pb-diff compares instead.
Getting started Installing, the two executables, the window, the three ways pb-diff runs, and where help is.
Ways to open a comparison Every route to a comparison side by side: what it takes, what it opens and when to choose it.

Tutorials

From the PowerBuilder IDE: see what you changed Make pb-diff the diff viewer of PowerBuilder's native Git or SVN integration, directly or through TortoiseGit and TortoiseSVN.
Your first comparison A window, a menu and a DataWindow of the Order Desk examples compared, and the noise taken out of a comparison.
Two releases of a library Every object of two releases compared at once, straight from the libraries or from a folder of exports.
PowerBuilder 2025 Solutions What a Solution looks like to pb-diff, comparing and merging its sources, and a migration compared.
Your first two-way merge Take a function and a deleted control back from the old release, and save an export PowerBuilder imports.
Your first three-way merge Two developers changed one object from the same Base: Auto Merge, a conflict resolved, and the result saved.
Automate with pb-diff-cli The headless tool for scripts, CI jobs and AI agents: the two rules, a first gate, and where the full reference is.

How-to guides

Source-control clients pb-diff as the external diff and merge tool of TortoiseGit, TortoiseSVN, Git and other clients: the command lines, and names a client mangles.
The desktop command line Every switch pb-diff.exe accepts, what each command line opens, command files, and exit codes.
Pair renamed objects Tell pb-diff that a deleted row and a new row of a summary are one object under two names.
Reports The five reports, the report tab, printing, the save formats, and the same reports from a script.
Run pb-diff in CI pb-diff-ci on a build machine - copy one file, gate on what changed, keep the report, summarise it in the job, and check sources after a merge - with GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps and Jenkins pipelines.
Check libraries for damage Find the damaged libraries of an application, a folder or a series of builds - what the check detects and what it does not, what each code means and what to do, and how to put it in a pipeline.

The windows

File Compare The detailed two-way compare and merge of one pair: hierarchy tree, side-by-side source, minimap, navigation, filters, search.
Three-way merge File1 and File2 against the Base both came from: the two rails, the three columns, the Merge Actions list, Auto Merge and every merge command.
Compare Summary The per-object result of comparing two libraries, folders or lists: the rows, how they are matched, filtering and drill-down.
File Selection The two lists a comparison of many objects runs over: files, folders and libraries, saved selections, and what a folder stands for.
Library One library on a tab of its own, to look through, validate and export from.
Line Compare Two single lines compared token by token or character by character.
Clipboard Compare Paste two pieces of text and compare them without saving files.
New Comparison The dialog that says what is compared with what: the paths, drag and drop, swapping rows, recent comparisons, and what it refuses.
Select PB Object The dialog that chooses one object inside a library, so it is compared or merged without exporting it.
Options Every option group and every option, with its default.
Source-control setup The dialog that sets TortoiseGit or TortoiseSVN up to open pb-diff: what it writes, and how Remove pb-diff takes it back.
Licence The window that starts a 30-day trial, activates pb-diff on this computer, moves a licence from another one, and says whether pb-diff is licensed and why not.

Explanations

How merging works What the two-way and the three-way merge decide, the four places a control lives, the warnings, and exactly what a saved merge is.
PowerBuilder object types What pb-diff shows for each kind of PowerBuilder object - windows, user objects, menus, functions, structures, queries, pipelines, projects and DataWindows - and what a merge takes of it.
Project and build files The files that hold a PowerBuilder application together beside its objects - what each is for, what a change to it does to the application, and what pb-diff shows of it.
Reading PowerBuilder libraries What pb-diff reads in a .pbl, .pbd or built executable, what it does with source, compiled and resource entries, and why it never writes one.

Reference

Status Icon Legend What every status marker in the summary, the trees and the merge panes means.
Keyboard shortcuts Every key a command answers to, and the keys that work inside a tab.
Settings and profile files Where the options are kept, the portable alternative, and every file pb-diff writes for itself.

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Symptoms and their causes: noisy comparisons, a client that opens the wrong view, libraries, Solutions, merges, and a window that went astray.
Getting help and reporting a problem Report a Problem, the support portal and support@pbdiff.com - who is served, what to send and what never to send, and where security problems and payment questions go.