LBZDIFF(1)

📦 version 1.0, in fedora 43, fedora 44

💅 LBZDIFF — the one where we compare compressed files, bestie

okay so this is the manual page for lbzcmp and lbzdiff, living in the General Commands Manual (section 1, the classics). sit down, grab a boba, we're doing this 🧋✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

lbzcmp, lbzdiff — compare compressed files 🫶

like, it's giving "diff but the files are squished" and honestly? iconic.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

lbzcmp [ cmp_options ] file1 [ file2 ]
lbzdiff [ diff_options ] file1 [ file2 ]

no cap, that's the whole vibe. one file or two, and some options if you're feeling fancy 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so here's the tea ☕ — Zcmp and lbzdiff exist to invoke the cmp program or the diff program on files that were compressed via lbzip2. that's the whole job. that's the mission. periodt.

every option you specify gets passed directly to cmp or diff. no middleman behaviour, no secret sauce, they just go straight through. 💨

now the branching:

  • if you only specify file1, it gets compared to the uncompressed contents of file1.bz2 — yes bestie, it goes and unzips it for you in spirit, you don't have to do anything 🌈
  • if you specify two files, their contents (uncompressed if necessary) are fed to cmp or diff. "if necessary" is doing a lot of work there and we respect it 💜

and the part we all care about: the input files are not modified. your files are safe, they're untouched, they're thriving, we would never 🙈

also the exit status from cmp or diff is preserved. so if you're scripting and checking $?, it means what you think it means. slay 🔥

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

go read these too, they're all in the family:

the whole squad fr fr 🫶

💀 BUGS 💀

okay so here's the little gremlin in the system 🍓:

Messages from the cmp or diff programs may refer to file names such as "-" instead of to the file names specified.

so basically the error messages might gaslight you a tiny bit and say "-" when you definitely typed a real filename. not you being confused, it's the tool. noted, documented, we move 💅

that's the whole page bestie!! written for the General Commands Manual, section 1 — the lbzcmp / lbzdiff era, archived for the girlies who compress their files and still want to compare them. mwah 🎀✨🦋

📦 where this page comes from