JSON 'minification' makes file comparison nearly impossible

[MartijnPW]

Hi,

I am trying to upgrade from OBS 25.0.8 to 27.1.3. I happen to work in quite a complicated setup with 5+ PCs that all need to run OBS, so I sometimes need to to do file comparisons between the JSON configs that OBS reads/writes. I use BeyondCompare for this, and it used to work great in the past.

However, in 27.x it seems that the JSON files are 'minified' so that it all fits onto one line. This makes it impossible to do any sensible file comparison, as you can see in the attached screenshot, where an old file is compared to a new file.

Why was this change done anyway? Should it be faster to read or something?

Could we at least have an option to write 'pretty' JSON files? That would be great!

BTW I'm sure the same issue will be present when putting these JSON files in a version control system, and handling merge conflicts in such a situation.

 

[John Hartman]

I use a JSON formatter to expand minified files when I need to examine them. I like the JSTool plugin to Notepad++, which is a fine text editor in any case.

 

[MartijnPW]

Hi John, thanks for the workaround tip!
I'm still hoping for a more permanent / user-friendly solution though :)

 

[John Hartman]

I just noticed that you said you use Beyond Compare (another fave of mine)

This convo https://stackoverflow.com/questions/60923387/compare-json-files-in-beyond-compare

• has a wee bit of Python to prettify JSON
• shows how to add a custom compare to BC
• has a comment from BC with a link to their add-ons, including JSON

I haven't tried any of these, but you might git it a go.

 

[John Hartman]

I just tried the BeyondCompare "sorted" and "tidied" JSON plugins. They handle minified JSON just fine (displaying as prettified)

However, if you have done anything in OBS (even just selecting a different scene in preview) between saves, the order of elements in the "sources" array changes, and the compare can be pretty useless.

As for putting JSON files (or at least OBS JSON files) in version control, I think you would need to treat them like binary assets where merge is not an option.

 

[MartijnPW]

Interesting stuff, John! Thanks for thinking along!

 

[DeaVain]

I have had a look with a few JSON tools and it all looks a bit, weird. Basically I'd definitely concur, for the moment, treat them as a binary resource.

But I'm going to pursue a bit, so I'll write back if I find anything.

 

[jmcb]

See here: https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/pull/8407