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<sect1 id="Introduction">
  <title>Introduction to WinMerge</title>

  <para>WinMerge is an <ulink url="http://www.opensource.org/">Open
  Source</ulink> visual text file differencing and merging tool for Win32
  platforms. WinMerge can compare directories and files and present
  differences in easy to understand and handle format.</para>

  <para>WinMerge is highly useful for determining what has changed between
  project versions, and then merging changes between versions. WinMerge can be
  used as external differencing/merging tool or as standalone
  application.</para>

  <para>In addition WinMerge has a lot of helping and supporting features
  making comparing and synching/merging as easy and useful as possible.
  Several programming languages and other fileformats are syntax
  highlighted.</para>

  <para>WinMerge is not an hex-editor. WinMerge can only inform user if binary
  files are different or identical, but WinMerge does not allow merging or
  editing binary files.</para>

  <para>Goal of WinMerge development is to make comparing and synch/merge of
  directories and files easy and fast. While maintaining maximum reliability.
  Easiness reduces user errors. Version 2.2 was already good and version 2.4
  still improves in many areas.</para>

  <para>Please note that WinMerge is not freeware, but it is <ulink
  url="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GPL</ulink> licenced.</para>

  <sect2>
    <title>WinMerge versions</title>

    <para>There are three kind of versions available in <ulink
    url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=13216">downloads</ulink>
    page.</para>

    <sect3>
      <title>Stable versions</title>

      <para><ulink
      url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=13216&amp;package_id=11248">Stable
      versions</ulink> are recommended for most users. If you are unsure about
      what version to use - use latest stable version. Stable versions have
      even second number, for example 2.0, 2.2, 2.4</para>
    </sect3>

    <sect3>
      <title>Beta versions</title>

      <para><ulink
      url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=13216&amp;package_id=29158">Beta
      versions</ulink> are for people who want to test latest features and
      improvements done after last stable version. Beta versions are not so
      extensively tested as stable versions are and probably have some bugs.
      Beta versions have odd second number, for example 2.1 and 2.3</para>
    </sect3>

    <sect3>
      <title>Experimental versions</title>

      <para><ulink
      url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=13216&amp;package_id=92246">Experimental
      versions</ulink> are snapshot releases from version control (CVS). They
      have all the latest features and improvements. Some features may still
      be buggy and/or incomplete. These releases are made available to allow
      users to try out the current code without needing to compile, and
      participate in development discussions concerning new and changing
      features. We also appreciate any help testing the current code. Use with
      care and enable backups! And please <ulink
      url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=13216&amp;atid=113216">report
      bugs</ulink> you find using these builds, it really helps with WinMerge
      development!</para>
    </sect3>
  </sect2>

  <sect2>
    <title>Getting support and reporting bugs</title>

    <para><ulink
    url="http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=41637">Open
    discussion forum</ulink> is the fastest way to get help. Please be
    patient, it may take some time anybody answers.</para>

    <para>If you have found a bug, please submit it as a <ulink
    url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=13216&amp;atid=113216">bug
    report</ulink>. Please attach as much information as you can, at least the
    version number of WinMerge you are using. If you can, attach also
    configuration log which you can see from menu <menuchoice>
        <guimenu>Help</guimenu>

        <guimenuitem>Configuration...</guimenuitem>
      </menuchoice> Good information in bug report means better change for bug
    to be fixed faster.</para>

    <important>
      <para>Include version number in bug reports. Version number can be
      checked from <menuchoice>
          <guimenu>Help</guimenu>

          <guimenuitem>About WinMerge</guimenuitem>
        </menuchoice> dialog.</para>
    </important>
  </sect2>

  <sect2>
    <title>WinMerge source codes and development</title>

    <para>WinMerge source codes are available in <ulink
    url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=13216">downloads</ulink>
    page and from <ulink
    url="https://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=13216">public CVS
    server</ulink>. We welcome everybody to download the sources, study them
    and alter them. If you find (and fix) bugs, improve something etc, please
    submit your changes back to us as <ulink
    url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=13216&amp;atid=313216">patches</ulink>
    and help improve this product!</para>

    <para>While WinMerge development has been fast in last two years, all this
    work is done by people in their spare time. Nobody gets paid for improving
    WinMerge. We try to fix bugs as we find them or somebody reports them to
    us. We really try - we use WinMerge too. But there is absolutely no
    promises for new features. We always appreciate any help with WinMerge, be
    it testing, documenting, translating or coding.</para>

    <sect3>
      <title>Participating to WinMerge development</title>

      <para>As mentioned above, we look for help in many areas, not just
      coding. Translations, documentation and testing are important
      too.</para>

      <para><ulink
      url="http://winmerge.sourceforge.net/developer/index.php">Developer
      pages</ulink> are good start if you want to help with
      development.</para>

      <para><ulink
      url="http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=41639">Developers-forum</ulink>
      is best place to discuss about development. If you are interested in
      helping with WinMerge development, let us know. If you want to fix one
      of our <ulink
      url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=13216&amp;atid=113216"
      userlevel="">bugs</ulink> or implement a <ulink
      url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=13216&amp;atid=363216">new
      feature</ulink>, let us know.</para>
    </sect3>
  </sect2>
</sect1>