Author Topic: Wanted: Compare contents of two RAR archives as if they were directories (Read 23,899 times)

tinjaw · « **on:** June 10, 2008, 08:18 PM »

Beyond Compare 2 can compare the contents of two ZIP archives as if they were directories. However it doesn't handle RAR archives. I converted the RAR archives to ZIP archives to do the compare this time, but I don't want to have to do that all the time.

Does anybody know of any program that can handle RAR files natively in this manner?

I wonder if v3 of Beyond Compare can handle them? Maybe I should email Scooter and ask them to add it if it isn't.

fenixproductions · « **Reply #1 on:** June 10, 2008, 08:40 PM »

Total Commander can show you differences. You have to get inside one archive in first panel, inside the second archive in another and choose "Synchronise directories" option from "File" menu.

Unfortunately that is all for handling. Packing RAR files (or repacking during synchronisation) seems impossible because this kind of compression is copyrighted and each software author should pay for this feature.

4wd · « **Reply #2 on:** June 11, 2008, 12:18 AM »

Rather old, shareware and probably unable to handle newer RAR format: ArcDiff - which has a very lenient attitude towards trial period.

Or there's UltraCompare.

Mind you, if DOpus had an ARexx port I could whip you up something in about an hour

(Actually if Windows had any decent inter-process communications language, this would be a breeze.)

tinjaw · « **Reply #3 on:** June 11, 2008, 01:47 AM »

I just thought of something. It would be cool to have a way to mount RAR and other archives to a drive like you can with ISOs. Then you could do all kinds of stuff like comparing, etc.

4wd · « **Reply #4 on:** June 11, 2008, 02:10 AM »

Quote from: tinjaw on June 11, 2008, 01:47 AM

I just thought of something. It would be cool to have a way to mount RAR and other archives to a drive like you can with ISOs. Then you could do all kinds of stuff like comparing, etc.

Not free: WinMount

Actually, these days to mount ISOs I rarely use virtual drives - unless some software specifically requires that it needs access a "drive" or because of copy protection.

Check out Pismo File Mount Audit Package - free and allows you to mount ZIPs, ISOs, Compact ISO, Compact File Set and Private Folder files as virtual folders.

Right-click an ISO, choose Quick Mount then double-click on the ISO file - you're in. No virtual drives required.

They also have a Pismo File Mount Developer Kit to add support for other filetypes ... RAR anyone?

tinjaw · « **Reply #5 on:** June 11, 2008, 04:10 AM »

WinMount is very cool. I just downloaded it and it has a 15-day trial. Has anybody used WinMount more than just tinkering with it?

f0dder · « **Reply #6 on:** June 11, 2008, 12:55 PM »

tinjaw, how thorough do you need the compare to be?

You could do a diff of "unrar v archive{1,2}.rar" - that listing includes size, compressed size, date, CRC et cetera - enough to be able to see if there's any differences. The only problem I can think of is that it uses a two-lines-per-file format, so if files come in different order in the two archives, it's somewhat difficult to sort before diff'ing.

Darwin · « **Reply #7 on:** June 11, 2008, 01:09 PM »

Directory Opus can do this via its Synchronize tool. I can't recall if a plug-in is required (it'd be free anyway) to allow the following, but you can open archives (including RAR files) as ~~directories~~ folders in Dopus, so you set up two panes, one for each of the two RAR files you are comparing and then select Tools - Synchronize and then click on Compare. It will offer to synch the two files for you, but you just click Cancel... Kind of an expensive way to do this, mind you! And possibly not quite what you're after? At any rate, I've just installed WinMount and am off to take a look.

Darwin · « **Reply #8 on:** June 11, 2008, 01:16 PM »

Crap. Scratch kind of expensive - make that hideously expensive. The last time I paid attention the buy in price of Dopus was about $55 USD, now it's closer to $81

Darwin · « **Reply #9 on:** June 11, 2008, 01:37 PM »

WinMout workes really well. However, the uninstaller sucks (could just be my set up, I know) - it starts up, you click OK to let it uninstall completely and then it hangs. Forever.

rjbull · « **Reply #10 on:** June 11, 2008, 02:56 PM »

Quote from: 4wd on June 11, 2008, 02:10 AM

Not free: WinMount

No kidding! Either $49 for a personal license, or, an eyewatering $999 for a site license, the only kind of commercial license? Phew...

Darwin · « **Reply #11 on:** June 11, 2008, 03:44 PM »

I didn't notice that, rjbull. That certainly re-defines hideously expensive! However, the stand-alone price, while steep, is bearable. The standalone cost of DOpus is arguably worth it but steeper yet! I, of course, count myself among the Dopus faithful...

tinjaw · « **Reply #12 on:** June 11, 2008, 04:35 PM »

Quote from: f0dder on June 11, 2008, 12:55 PM

tinjaw, how thorough do you need the compare to be?

The use case was that I believed all of the stuff in one RAR archive was included in another RAR. Before I deleted the first one I wanted to make sure all of its contents were in the second.*

I think we should ask for DC to try and get a discount on WinMount? What do you folks think?

*Yes, I just moved the files from the first to the second and said to update on older. So, I got the end result I needed, but that got me thinking, hence the question.

Darwin · « **Reply #13 on:** June 11, 2008, 04:59 PM »

It helps that the buy-in price for WinMount gets you a lifetime licence. I probably wouldn't take advantage of a discount as I already have the basic functionality, but I do like the application (still not impressed by the uninstaller, though - thank goodness for Your Uninstaller!).

kartal · « **Reply #14 on:** June 12, 2008, 06:00 AM »

I have found this free software but no rar support, only zip files

http://www.pismotechnic.com/pfm/ap/

lanux128 · « **Reply #15 on:** June 12, 2008, 06:20 AM »

Quote from: kartal on June 12, 2008, 06:00 AM

I have found this free software but no rar support, only zip files

http://www.pismotechnic.com/pfm/ap/

i think this is the program that 4wd mentioned.

kartal · « **Reply #16 on:** June 12, 2008, 06:31 AM »

Sorry I missed 4wd`s post.

4wd · « **Reply #17 on:** June 12, 2008, 12:42 PM »

Quote from: kartal

Sorry I missed 4wd`s post.

You are forgiven my son

Actually, this wouldn't be all that hard to do using AutoIt, eg:

1) Extract archives to two temp directories using UniExtract.
2) Compare and report the contents using any diff program, (BeyondCompare, WinDiff, etc).

The updating of one archive based on the result is a little more interesting but should be possible providing the comparison program can output a plain text difference list, then just pass it to the appropriate archiver to update the chosen archive.

Simple!

Let me know when you've got it done

EDIT: A little poking around on SourceForge reveals CompareArchives. Will do ZIP, EAR, WAR and JAR. It's written in Java so it's platform independent and if you're able you could modify to do other types. Output is in the form of a HTML report, (hardcoded to use IEXPLORE.EXE on Windows).

Another EDIT: Thinking about it, the AutoIt, (or similar), way of doing it is probably the only way you're really going to get something like this done w.r.t RAR archives. Other programs are able to do ZIP, (and others), because they are open-spec algorithms - RAR isn't. You're always have to have WinRAR installed if you want to do more than just see the results, whereas other programs can actually update archives.

Craig (Scooter) · « **Reply #18 on:** June 13, 2008, 06:53 PM »

We actually just finished adding read-only RAR support to the Beyond Compare v3 beta last week and it will be included in the next beta release. Aside from being read-only it works exactly like the zip support does.

tinjaw · « **Reply #19 on:** June 13, 2008, 07:57 PM »

Thanks for taking the time to post this info Craig. I'll grab the beta.

mouser · « **Reply #20 on:** June 13, 2008, 08:43 PM »

For those who don't know, here's our comparison of file/folder compare tools where Beyond Compare is recommended: http://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/Archive/CompareTools/index.html