Viewing version-controlled files

Meld integrates with many version control systems to let you review local changes and perform simple version control tasks. You can start a new version control comparison by selecting the File ▸ New... menu item, and clicking on the Version Control tab.

Version control comparisons

Version control comparisons show the differences between the contents of your folder and the current repository version. Each file in your local copy has a state that indicates how it differs from the repository copy.

If you want to look at a particular file's differences, you can select it and press Enter, or double-click the file to start a file comparison. You can also interact with your version control system using the Changes menu.

Version control states

Each file or folder in a version control comparison has a state, obtained from the version control system itself. Meld maps these different states into a standard set of very similar concepts. As such, Meld might use slightly different names for states than your version control system does. The possible states are:

Version control states

State	Appearance	Meaning
Same	Normal font	The file/folder is the same as the repository version.
Modified	Red and bold	This file is different to the repository version.
New	Green and bold	This file/folder is new, and is scheduled to be added to the repository.
Removed	Red bold text with a line through the middle	This file/folder existed, but is scheduled to be removed from the repository.
Conflict	Bright red bold text	When trying to merge with the repository, the differences between the local file and the repository could not be resolved, and the file is now in conflict with the repository contents
Missing	Blue bold text with a line through the middle	This file/folder should be present, but isn't.
Ignored	Greyed out text	This file/folder has been explicitly ignored (e.g., by an entry in .gitignore) and is not being tracked by version control.
Unversioned	Greyed out text	This file is not in the version control system; it is only in the local copy.
Error	Bright red with a yellow background and bold	The version control system has reported a problem with this file.

Version control state filtering

Most often, you will only want to see files that are identified as being in some way different; this is the default setting in Meld. You can change which file states you see by using the View ▸ Version Status menu, or by clicking the corresponding Modified, Normal, Unversioned and Ignored buttons on the toolbar.