---
name: "diffdirs"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "searchscripts"
version: "0.11"
release: "Debian 3.0 (Woody)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/diffdirs"
---

# diffdirs(1)

show the files which are different between two archives or directories, or diff two text files

## NAME

diffdirs - show the files which are different between two archives or directories, or diff two text files

## DESCRIPTION

diffdirs shows the differences in the file lists of any two of the following archive types: .deb, .tar.gz, .tgz, .tar.Z, .tar.bz2, .zip, and also directories.  The file list of one is diffed against the file list of the other.

It also diffs two text files whether straight text or compressed with gzip or bzip2.  The difference is either displayed with an external program if DIFFDIRS is set (see ENVIRONMENT) or printed.

So the two arguments can be either two text files or two of the archive types, but not one text type and one archive type.

The README describes one way to integrate it with FileRunner.  The procedure should be similar for other directory utilities.

## SYNOPSIS

diffdirs \[-hqs\] arg1 arg2

## OPTIONS

- **-h**

  help

- **-q**

  ignore any paths containing CVS/

- **-s**

  also diff on the file sizes

## ENVIRONMENT

- **DIFFDIRS**

  If this variable is set in the environment (e.g. export DIFFDIRS=tkdiff) this program is used when diffing two text files.

## EXAMPLES

Compare a dpkg build directory against an upstream tarball.  After the clean target is run the differences between the two might be the debian/ directory and its files and a size difference between the Makefile.ins or Makefiles,

    diffdirs -s build\_directory/ tarball.tar.gz

- Compare Packages files, one compressed,

      diffdirs Packages.gz Packages

## AUTHOR

Copyright (C) 2000 Rick Younie \<younie@debian.org\>, GPL version 2 or later. See /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL.

## SEE ALSO

**[diff(1)](/diff/1.md),** **[gtkdiff(1)](/gtkdiff/1.md),** **[tkdiff(1)](/tkdiff/1.md)**