External Diff/Merge tool bug

[R_ K_]

While evaluating different external Diff/Merge tools in sourcetree, independently of what I adjust in the options, the application permanently selects Beyond Compare 5 as a merge tool.
Even after deinstalling Beyond Compare and sourcetree (together with the Atlassian folder) this issue remains.

Interestingly this issue just applies to merge not to diff. In addition, I have to state that the adjustment of different merge tools worked until some more testing with different

arguments with Beyound Compare 5. Used Sourcetree version: 3.4.22 and 3.4.23.

It prevents one to use any other merge tool.

This can be observed for different repositories, so it seems that some internal sourcetree configuration blocks / overwrites the selection.

Has some on an idea how to fix that issue?

[Ram Kumar Aravindakshan _Adaptavist_]

Hi @R_ K_

I'm not 100% sure whether this is the root cause, but from some articles, it's mentioned that this could be because Sourcetree writes its external tool configurations directly to your global .gitconfig file under a specific [mergetool "sourcetree"] section.

Even if you change the UI settings or reinstall the app, these Git-level entries can persist and override Sourcetree's internal defaults.

You could maybe try to manually edit the .gitconfig file

• Navigate to your user folder (usually C:\Users\<YourUsername>\.gitconfig).
• Open .gitconfig in a text editor.
• Look for a section titled [mergetool "sourcetree"] and delete the entire block, including the cmd = ... line that likely still points to Beyond Compare.
• Also, ensure [merge] tool = sourcetree that either is removed or set to your preferred tool.

Let me know how it goes.

Thank you and Kind regards,
Ram