---
name: "pkgdiff"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "pkgdiff"
version: "1.7.2-1.1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pkgdiff"
---
# pkgdiff(1)
a tool for visualizing changes in Linux software packages
## NAME
pkgdiff - a tool for visualizing changes in Linux software packages
## DESCRIPTION
### NAME:
-
Package Changes Analyzer A tool for analyzing changes in Linux software packages
### DESCRIPTION:
-
Package Changes Analyzer (PkgDiff) is a tool for analyzing changes in Linux software packages (RPM, DEB, TAR.GZ, etc).
-
The tool is intended for Linux maintainers who are interested in ensuring compatibility of old and new versions of packages.
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This tool is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU GPL.
### USAGE:
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pkgdiff PKG1 PKG2 \[options\]
### EXAMPLES:
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pkgdiff OLD.rpm NEW.rpm pkgdiff OLD.tar.gz NEW.tar.gz
### ARGUMENTS:
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PKG1
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Path to the old version of a package (RPM, DEB, TAR.GZ, etc).
-
If you need to analyze a group of packages then you can pass an XML-descriptor of this group (VERSION.xml file):
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\
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/\* Group version \*/
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\
-
\
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/\* Group name \*/
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\
-
\
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/path1/to/package(s) /path2/to/package(s) ...
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\
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PKG2
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Path to the new version of a package (RPM, DEB, TAR.GZ, etc).
### INFORMATION OPTIONS:
**-h**\|-help
-
Print this help.
**-v**\|-version
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Print version information.
**-dumpversion**
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Print the tool version (1.7.2) and don't do anything else.
### GENERAL OPTIONS:
**-report-path** PATH
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Path to the report. Default:
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pkgdiff\_reports/\/\\_to\_\/changes\_report.html
**-details**
-
Try to create detailed reports.
**-size-limit** SIZE
-
Don't analyze files larger than SIZE in kilobytes.
**-width** WIDTH
-
Width of the Visual Diff. Default: 75
**-prelines** NUM
-
Size of the context in the Visual Diff. Default: 10
**-ignore-space-change**
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Ignore changes in the amount of white space.
**-ignore-all-space**
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Ignore all white space.
**-ignore-blank-lines**
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Ignore changes whose lines are all blank.
**-quick**
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Quick mode without creating of Visual Diffs for files.
**-minimal**
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Try to find a smaller set of changes.
### OTHER OPTIONS:
**-check-usage**
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Check if package content is used by other packages in the repository.
**-pkg-manager** NAME
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Specify package management tool. Supported:
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urpm - Mandriva URPM
**-template**
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Create XML-descriptor template ./VERSION.xml
**-extra-info** DIR
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Dump extra info to DIR.
**-tmp-dir** DIR
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Use custom temp directory.
**-hide-unchanged**
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Don't show unchanged files in the report.
**-debug**
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Show debug info.
**-name** NAME
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Set name of the package to NAME.
**-title** TITLE
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Set name of the package in the title of the report to TITLE.
**-vnum1** NUM
-
Set version number of the old package to NUM.
**-vnum2** NUM
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Set version number of the new package to NUM.
**-links-target** TARGET
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Set target attribute for links in the report:
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\_self \_blank (default)
**-list-added-removed**
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Show content of added and removed text files.
**-skip-subarchives**
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Skip checking of archives inside the input packages.
**-skip-pattern** REGEX
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Skip checking of paths within archives matching REGEX.
**-d**\|-directories
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Compare directories instead of packages.
### REPORT:
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Report will be generated to:
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pkgdiff\_reports/\/\\_to\_\/changes\_report.html
### EXIT CODES:
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0 - Unchanged. The tool has run without any errors. non-zero - Changed or the tool has run with errors.
### MORE INFORMATION:
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http://lvc.github.com/pkgdiff/
## AUTHOR
This manual page was written by Peter Spiess-Knafl \ for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).
Written by Andrey Ponomarenko.
## COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2016 Andrey Ponomarenko's ABI Laboratory License: GNU GPL \ This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it.