external merge tool will not start

[Simon Martineau]

Hi, 

I can't launch external merge tool from Sourcetree anymore. It might have been broken in the last update, I can't confirm but for sure it has worked before. When I use resolve conflict -> launch external merge tool, I get the "Visual merge in progress" dialog but it never really launches. I tried to use Beyond compare and araxis merge but I get the same problem with both. I use version 1.6.13.0 of sourcetree. I also tried adding the beyond compare executable to my path but it did not help.

Thank you,

Simon Martineau

[Seth · Accepted solution]

Another user recently discovered in this question that you can not use the external diff tool if the file has been deleted (or renamed) in one of the branches that are being merged: https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/12258328

Is this what is happening to you?

[Simon Martineau]

Seth, you are right, it is exactly what is happening to me. One file was renamed. 

Any idea how to make it work with a renamed file?

I should mention the rename was done properly in git. It is not just a remove and add on a different name.

[Seth]

Someone in this bug report was able to do it from the command line: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/SRCTREEWIN-1259 Also, does the merge show a conflict on the old name AND an addition for the new name? You might be able to manually diff the files (new name from branch1 and old name from branch2) into the new name, and delete the old one, then mark conflicts as resolved in SourceTree.

[Simon Martineau]

The conflict is on the old file name. The result I would expect would be to have all the changes in the new file and not to have the old file. It looks obvious to me but maybe I am dreaming...