DEBDIFF(1)

📦
version 2.26.11ubuntu1 · 2 versions
, in fedora 43, fedora 44, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 DEBDIFF(1) 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to debdiff, from the General Commands Manual — it's the little tool that compares file lists in two Debian packages, and honestly? she eats. 🎀

✨ 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 🦋

okay so here's the vibe 💅 — debdiff takes the names of two Debian package files (.debs or .udebs) on the command line and compares their contents. and when I say contents I mean considering only the files in the main package, not the maintenance scripts, no cap.

It shows you which files have been introduced and which have been removed between the two package files, and that's literally why it's useful — for spotting files that may have been inadvertently lost between revisions of the package. 😭 the way a file can just vanish between uploads. it also checks the file owners and permissions, and compares the control files of the two packages using the wdiff program. obsessed.

If you want a deeper comparison of two Debian package files, you can use the diffoscope tool instead. ✨

If no arguments are given, debdiff tries to compare the content of the current source directory with the last version of the package. lowkey iconic behaviour.

debdiff can also handle changes between groups of .deb files, in two ways:

  1. 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.)
  2. The second way is to list the .deb files of interest specifically using the --from ... --to syntax.

Both of these 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. periodt.

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 bestie, 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 revisions. 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 order in which they appear. This only affects comparing binary packages, not source packages. 🎀
  • --move-regex FROM TO — 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 wdiff(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 override a configuration file setting.
  • --controlfiles FILE[,FILE ...] — specify which control files to compare; by default this is just control, but could include 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 configuration 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 command 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 permitted. 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. 🙈
  • --no-check — do no check of signatures and checksums before unpacking the source archives. This is intended to be used when the caller has guaranteed the provenance of the source package — for example when a package manager downloads the source package from a repository with metadata indices that contain signatures and checksums that get rotated and updated, so that it is guaranteed to be already validated before we extract the source package.

Supported since 2.25.27.

  • --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 directory to compare their contents along with the other files. This is the default behaviour.
  • --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 configuration 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 option. 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_CHECK_SOURCE — if this is set to no, then it is the same as the --no-check command line parameter being used.

Supported since 2.25.27.

  • 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 parameter being used.
  • DEBDIFF_UNPACK_TARBALLS — if this is set to no, then it is the same as the --no-unpack-tarballs command line parameter being used.
  • DEBDIFF_APPLY_PATCHES — if this is set to yes, then it is the same as the --apply-patches command line parameter 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 always use pbuilder or svn-buildpackage to build your packages. Note that it also affects debrelease(1) in the same way, hence the strange name of the option. 🧚

🚪 EXIT VALUES (bestie, this is how you know what happened)

Okay so like, here's the vibe check on what debdiff hands back when it's done doing its thing:

  • 0 — no differences reported. Everything matched, it's giving peaceful, it's giving harmony, nothing to see here 💅
  • 1 — differences WERE reported. Not an error! It literally just means "yeah bestie, these two are not the same" 👀
  • 255 — some fatal error happened 😭 something went genuinely wrong, this is not a drill
Normally that's the whole story: 0 for no diffs, 1 for diffs, and 255 when things go catastrophically sideways. Periodt. 🔥

👀 SEE ALSO (your little reading list, go off)

Like, if you loved this, you're gonna be obsessed with these:

👑 AUTHOR (giving credit where credit is SO due)

Okay so the lore is actually iconic. debdiff started life as a shell script written by Yann Dirson <dirson@debian.org>, and then Julian Gilbey <jdg@debian.org> rewrote the whole thing in Perl and stacked it with many more features. A glow-up of epic proportions, no cap ✨

And the legal bit, because we respect it: the software may be freely redistributed under the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License, version 2. 🫶

and that's the whole page bestie!! 🎀 this manual page came from Debian Utilities — section 1, DEBDIFF(1), dated Debian, and it's all yours now. go diff some packages, you absolute main character 🌈👑💖

📦 where this page comes from