Inline Git & Mercurial Blame for the Delphi IDE

Features · Requirements · Installation · Usage · Configuration · Changelog · License

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DX.Blame brings GitLens-style blame annotations directly into the Delphi code editor. See who changed a line, when, and why — without leaving the IDE.

Works with Git and Mercurial repositories. Auto-detects the VCS in use.

Features

Inline Blame Annotations

• Blame annotation at the end of the current line (author, relative time)
• Caret-anchored positioning — annotation follows the caret column, preventing horizontal jumps on lines of varying length
• Theme-aware color that adapts to light and dark IDE themes
• Configurable display: author, date format, max length, summary

Statusbar Blame

• Current line's blame info displayed in the IDE statusbar
• Click the statusbar panel to open commit details
• Runs independently of inline annotations — use both, or either

Commit Details

• Click on an annotation to see full commit info (hash, author, date, message)
• Open a color-coded diff dialog showing exactly what changed
• Navigate to the annotated revision — opens the historical file version scrolled to the source line

VCS Support

• Git via git blame --porcelain and git show
• Mercurial via hg annotate with template-based parsing and hg cat / hg log
• TortoiseHg context menu integration (Annotate, Log)
• Auto-detection of .git / .hg in the project directory
• Configurable VCS preference when both Git and Hg are present (remembered per project)

IDE Integration

• Settings page under Tools > Options > Third Party > DX Blame
• Toggle blame via Ctrl+Alt+B keyboard shortcut
• Toggle blame via editor right-click context menu
• Splash screen and About Box registration
• Asynchronous blame engine — never blocks the IDE
• Optional debug logging to the IDE Messages window (off by default for Release-built packages)

Requirements

• Delphi 12 Athens or Delphi 13
• Git installed and available in PATH (for Git repositories)
• Mercurial (hg) installed and available in PATH (for Mercurial repositories)
• Windows 10 or later

Delphi Version Compatibility

DX.Blame compiles from a single codebase on Delphi 12 and 13 using conditional compilation ({$IF CompilerVersion}). Delphi 13-specific features (e.g. INTACodeEditorEvents370 for click-consuming and caret tracking) are enabled automatically when building with Delphi 13. On Delphi 12, the plugin uses the standard INTACodeEditorEvents interface — all core functionality (inline blame, statusbar, commit details, diff dialog) works identically.

Installation

From Source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/omonien/DX.Blame.git
   

2. Open DX.Blame.groupproj in the Delphi IDE

3. Build the DX.Blame.bpl package (right-click → Build)

4. Install the package:

   • Component > Install Packages > Add...
   • Navigate to build\Win32\Debug\DX.Blame.bpl (or build\Win32\Release\... if you built Release)
   • Click OK

5. The plugin is now active. Open a file in a Git or Mercurial repository to see blame annotations.

Build Script

Alternatively, build from the command line using the included PowerShell script:

.\build\DelphiBuildDPROJ.ps1 -ProjectFile .\src\DX.Blame.dproj

This automatically detects the newest Delphi version on the system (defaults: Debug, Win32). For a Release build: add -Config Release. To build the test runner: use -ProjectFile .\tests\DX.Blame.Tests.dproj.

Running tests

After building the test project, run DUnitX from the output folder (same Config / Platform as the build):

.\build\Win32\Release\DX.Blame.Tests.exe -exit:Continue -consolemode:Quiet

For a Debug build, use .\build\Win32\Debug\DX.Blame.Tests.exe instead. All tests should pass before tagging a release.

Where the package (.bpl) is written

The design-time package is linked into the IDE’s Bpl directory (see DCC_BplOutput in DX.Blame.dproj), not under build\. For example, with Delphi 13 (37.0) on Win32 you will typically get:

%PUBLIC%\Documents\Embarcadero\Studio\37.0\Bpl\DX.Blame370.bpl

Use that file when installing the package in the IDE or when attaching a binary to a GitHub release.

Usage

Viewing Blame

Open any source file in a Git or Mercurial repository. Blame annotations appear automatically at the end of each line showing the author and relative time.

Keyboard Shortcut

Press Ctrl+Alt+B to toggle blame annotations on and off.

Context Menu

Right-click in the editor to access:

• Enable/Disable Blame (Ctrl+Alt+B) — quick toggle with checkmark
• Show revision... — open the historical file version at the annotated commit, scrolled to the current line

Commit Details

Click on a blame annotation (or the statusbar panel) to see full commit details including hash, author, date, and message. From there, open the Diff dialog to see color-coded changes.

Configuration

Access settings via Tools > Options > Third Party > DX Blame.

Setting	Description	Default
Show Author	Display author name in annotations	On
Date Format	Relative ("3 days ago") or absolute	Relative
Show Commit Summary	Include commit subject in the annotation text	Off
Max Length	Maximum length of the annotation string (20–200)	80
Annotation Color	Auto (theme-derived) or custom color	Auto
Annotation Position	Caret-anchored or right-aligned in editor	Caret-anchored
Popup Trigger	Hover over annotation or click on hash link	Hover
Show Inline	Enable/disable inline annotations	On
Show in Statusbar	Enable/disable statusbar blame	On
VCS Preference	Auto / Git / Mercurial	Auto
Hotkey	Keyboard shortcut for toggle	Ctrl+Alt+B
Enable debug logging	Write diagnostic lines to IDE Messages	On in Debug builds, off in Release builds

Settings are stored in %APPDATA%\DX.Blame\settings.ini.

Changelog

Release notes and version history: CHANGELOG.md.

Versioning

Version numbers are defined only in src/DX.Blame.Version.pas (cDXBlameMajorVersion … cDXBlameBuild). The string shown in the IDE (splash, about) comes from DXBlameVersionString, which is derived from those four values.

The Delphi project files duplicate Win32 version metadata (FileVersion / ProductVersion in the .dproj files). After changing the numeric constants, run build/Sync-DXBlameVersion.ps1 so the package and test projects stay aligned. Use -WhatIf to preview changes.

Project Structure

DX.Blame/
  src/               Source code (33 units in the design-time package)
    DX.Blame.dpk     Design-time package
    DX.Blame.dproj   Project file
  res/               Resources (splash icon, logos)
  build/             Build output, DelphiBuildDPROJ.ps1, Sync-DXBlameVersion.ps1
  tests/             DUnitX test project
  docs/              Documentation
  libs/              External dependencies (Git submodules)
  CHANGELOG.md       Release notes

License

MIT License — Copyright © 2026 Olaf Monien