debdiff(1) - man - phpman

DEBDIFF(1)                             General Commands Manual                            DEBDIFF(1)



NAME
       debdiff - compare file lists in two Debian packages

SYNOPSIS
       debdiff [options]
       debdiff [options] ... deb1 deb2
       debdiff [options] ... changes1 changes2
       debdiff [options] ... --from deb1a deb1b ...  --to deb2a deb2b ...
       debdiff [options] ... dsc1 dsc2

DESCRIPTION
       debdiff takes the names of two Debian package files (.debs or .udebs) on the command line and
       compares their contents (considering only the files in the main package, not the  maintenance
       scripts).   It shows which files have been introduced and which removed between the two pack‐
       age files, and is therefore useful for spotting files which may have been inadvertently  lost
       between  revisions  of the package.  It also checks the file owners and permissions, and com‐
       pares the control files of the two packages using the wdiff program.  If you  want  a  deeper
       comparison of two Debian package files you can use the diffoscope tool.

       If  no arguments are given, debdiff tries to compare the content of the current source direc‐
       tory with the last version of the package.

       debdiff can also handle changes between groups of .deb files in two ways.  The  first  is  to
       specify two .changes files.  In this case, the .deb files listed in the .changes file will be
       compared, by taking the contents of all of the listed .deb files together.  (The  .deb  files
       listed  are  assumed to be in the same directory as the .changes file.)  The second way is to
       list the .deb files of interest specifically using the --from ... --to  syntax.   These  both
       help if a package is broken up into smaller packages and one wishes to ensure that nothing is
       lost in the interim.

       debdiff examines the devscripts configuration files as described below.  Command line options
       override the configuration file settings, though.

       If  debdiff  is  passed  two source packages (.dsc files) it will compare the contents of the
       source packages.  If the source packages differ only in Debian revision number (that is,  the
       .orig.tar.gz  files  are  the  same in the two .dsc files), then interdiff(1) will be used to
       compare the two patch files if this program is available on the system, otherwise a diff will
       be performed between the two source trees.

OPTIONS
       --dirs, -d
              The  default  mode  of operation is to ignore directory names which appear in the file
              list, but they, too, will be considered if this option is given.

       --nodirs
              Ignore directory names which appear in the file list.  This is the default and it  can
              be used to override a configuration file setting.

       --move FROM TO, -m FROM TO
              It  sometimes  occurs that various files or directories are moved around between revi‐
              sions.  This can be handled using this option.  There are  two  arguments,  the  first
              giving  the  location of the directory or file in the first package, and the second in
              the second.  Any files in the first listing whose names begin with the first  argument
              are treated as having that substituted for the second argument when the file lists are
              compared.  Any number of --move arguments may be given; they are processed in the  or‐
              der  in  which  they  appear.  This only affects comparing binary packages, not source
              packages.

       --move-regex FROM TO
              This is the same as --move, except that FROM is treated as a  regular  expression  and
              the  perl substitution command s/^FROM/TO/ is applied to the files.  In particular, TO
              can make use of backreferences such as $1.

       --nocontrol
              debdiff will usually compare the respective control files of the  packages  using  wd‐‐
              iff(1).  This option suppresses this part of the processing.

       --control
              Compare the respective control files; this is the default, and it can be used to over‐
              ride a configuration file setting.

       --controlfiles FILE[,FILE ...]
              Specify which control files to compare; by default this is just control, but could in‐
              clude  postinst, config and so on.  Files will only be compared if they are present in
              both .debs being compared.  The special value ALL compares all control  files  present
              in  both packages, except for md5sums.  This option can be used to override a configu‐
              ration file setting.

       --wdiff-source-control
              When processing source packages, compare control files using wdiff.  Equivalent to the
              --control option for binary packages.

       --no-wdiff-source-control
              Do not compare control files in source packages using wdiff.  This is the default.

       --wp, --wl, --wt
              Pass a -p, -l or -t option to wdiff respectively.  (This yields the whole wdiff output
              rather than just the lines with any changes.)

       --show-moved
              If multiple .deb files are specified on the command line, either using .changes  files
              or  the  --from/--to syntax, then this option will also show which files (if any) have
              moved between packages.  (The package names are simply determined from  the  names  of
              the .deb files.)

       --noshow-moved
              The default behaviour; can be used to override a configuration file setting.

       --renamed FROM TO
              If --show-moved is being used and a package has been renamed in the process, this com‐
              mand instructs debdiff to treat the package in the first list called  FROM  as  if  it
              were called TO.  Multiple uses of this option are permitted.

       --exclude PATTERN
              Exclude files whose basenames match PATTERN.  Multiple uses of this option are permit‐
              ted.  Note that this option is passed on to diff and has the same behaviour,  so  only
              the  basename of the file is considered: in particular, --exclude='*.patch' will work,
              but --exclude='debian/patches/*' will have no practical effect.

       --diffstat
              Include the result of diffstat before the generated diff.

       --no-diffstat
              The default behaviour; can be used to override a configuration file setting.

       --auto-ver-sort
              When comparing source packages, do so in version order.

       --no-auto-ver-sort
              Compare source packages in the order they were passed on  the  command-line,  even  if
              that means comparing a package with a higher version against one with a lower version.
              This is the default behaviour.

       --unpack-tarballs
              When comparing source packages, also unpack tarballs found in the top level source di‐
              rectory to compare their contents along with the other files.  This is the default be‐
              haviour.

       --no-unpack-tarballs
              Do not unpack tarballs inside source packages.

       --apply-patches
              If the old and/or new package is in 3.0 (quilt) format, apply the quilt  patches  (and
              remove .pc/) before comparison.

       --no-apply-patches, --noapply-patches
              If the old and/or new package is in 3.0 (quilt) format, do not apply the quilt patches
              before comparison. This is the default behaviour.

       --no-conf, --noconf
              Do not read any configuration files.  This can only be used as the first option  given
              on the command-line.

       --debs-dir directory
              Look  for  the  .dsc files in directory instead of the parent of the source directory.
              This should either be an absolute path or relative to the top of the source directory.

       --help, -h
              Show a summary of options.

       --version, -v
              Show version and copyright information.

       --quiet, -q
              Be quiet if no differences were found.

       --ignore-space, -w
              Ignore whitespace in diffs.

CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
       The two configuration files /etc/devscripts.conf and ~/.devscripts are sourced by a shell  in
       that order to set configuration variables.  Command line options can be used to override con‐
       figuration file settings.  Environment variable settings are ignored for this  purpose.   The
       currently recognised variables are:

       DEBDIFF_DIRS
              If  this is set to yes, then it is the same as the --dirs command line parameter being
              used.

       DEBDIFF_CONTROL
              If this is set to no, then it is the same as the --nocontrol  command  line  parameter
              being used.  The default is yes.

       DEBDIFF_CONTROLFILES
              Which  control  files to compare, corresponding to the --controlfiles command line op‐
              tion.  The default is control.

       DEBDIFF_SHOW_MOVED
              If this is set to yes, then it is the same as the --show-moved command line  parameter
              being used.

       DEBDIFF_WDIFF_OPT
              This option will be passed to wdiff; it should be one of -p, -l or -t.

       DEBDIFF_SHOW_DIFFSTAT
              If  this  is  set to yes, then it is the same as the --diffstat command line parameter
              being used.

       DEBDIFF_WDIFF_SOURCE_CONTROL
              If this is set to yes, then it is the same as the --wdiff-source-control command  line
              parameter being used.

       DEBDIFF_AUTO_VER_SORT
              If this is set to yes, then it is the same as the --auto-ver-sort command line parame‐
              ter being used.

       DEBDIFF_UNPACK_TARBALLS
              If this is set to no, then it is the same as the --no-unpack-tarballs command line pa‐
              rameter being used.

       DEBDIFF_APPLY_PATCHES
              If this is set to yes, then it is the same as the --apply-patches command line parame‐
              ter being used.  The default is no.

       DEBRELEASE_DEBS_DIR
              This specifies the directory in which to look for the .dsc and files, and is either an
              absolute  path  or  relative  to  the top of the source tree.  This corresponds to the
              --debs-dir command line option.  This directive could be used, for example, if you al‐
              ways  use  pbuilder or svn-buildpackage to build your packages.  Note that it also af‐
              fects debrelease(1) in the same way, hence the strange name of the option.

EXIT VALUES
       Normally the exit value will be 0 if no differences are reported and 1 if any  are  reported.
       If there is some fatal error, the exit code will be 255.

SEE ALSO
       debdiff-apply(1),  diffstat(1), dpkg-deb(1), interdiff(1), wdiff(1), devscripts.conf(5), dif‐‐
       foscope(1)

AUTHOR
       debdiff was originally written as a shell  script  by  Yann  Dirson  <dirson AT debian.org>  and
       rewritten  in  Perl  with many more features by Julian Gilbey <jdg AT debian.org>.  The software
       may be freely redistributed under the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License,
       version 2.



DEBIAN                                    Debian Utilities                                DEBDIFF(1)