NAME

       pkgdiff - a tool for visualizing changes in Linux software packages

DESCRIPTION

   NAME:
              Package Changes Analyzer A tool for visualizing changes in Linux software packages

   DESCRIPTION:
              Package  Changes  Analyzer  (PkgDiff) is a tool for visualizing changes in Linux software packages
              (RPM, DEB, TAR.GZ, etc).

              The tool can compare directories as well (with the help of the -d option).

              The tool is intended for Linux maintainers who are interested in ensuring compatibility of old and
              new versions of packages.

              This tool is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms  of  the  GNU
              GPL.

   USAGE:
              pkgdiff PKG1 PKG2 [options] pkgdiff -d DIR1/ DIR2/ [options]

   EXAMPLES:
              pkgdiff OLD.rpm NEW.rpm pkgdiff OLD.deb NEW.deb pkgdiff OLD.tar.gz NEW.tar.gz

   ARGUMENTS:
              PKG1

              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):

              <version>

              /* Group version */

              </version>

              <group>

              /* Group name */

              </group>

              <packages>

              /path1/to/package(s) /path2/to/package(s) ...

              </packages>

              PKG2

              Path to the new version of a package (RPM, DEB, TAR.GZ, etc).

   INFORMATION OPTIONS:

       -h|-help

              Print this help.

       -v|-version

              Print version information.

       -dumpversion

              Print the tool version (1.8) and don't do anything else.

   GENERAL OPTIONS:

       -report-path PATH

              Path to the report.  Default:

              pkgdiff_reports/<pkg>/<v1>_to_<v2>/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: 80

       -prelines NUM

              Size of the context in the Visual Diff.  Default: 10

       -ignore-space-change

              Ignore changes in the amount of white space.

       -ignore-all-space

              Ignore all white space.

       -ignore-blank-lines

              Ignore changes whose lines are all blank.

       -quick

              Quick mode without creating of Visual Diffs for files.

       -minimal

              Try to find a smaller set of changes.

       -no-wdiff

              Do not use GNU Wdiff for analysis of changes.  This may be two times faster,  but  produces  lower
              quality reports.

   OTHER OPTIONS:

       -check-usage

              Check if package content is used by other packages in the repository.

       -pkg-manager NAME

              Specify package management tool.  Supported:

              urpm - Mandriva URPM

       -template

              Create XML-descriptor template ./VERSION.xml

       -extra-info DIR

              Dump extra info to DIR.

       -tmp-dir DIR

              Use custom temp directory.

       -c|-hide-unchanged

              Don't show unchanged files in the report.

       -debug

              Show debug info.

       -name NAME

              Set name of the package to NAME.

       -title TITLE

              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

              Set version number of the new package to NUM.

       -links-target TARGET

              Set target attribute for links in the report:

              _self (default) _blank

       -list-added-removed

              Show content of added and removed text files.

       -skip-subarchives

              Skip checking of archives inside the input packages.

       -skip-pattern REGEX

              Don't check files matching REGEX.

       -d|-directories

              Compare directories instead of packages.

       -all-text

              Treat all files in the archive as text files.

       -check-byte-code

              When comparing Java classes, also check for byte code changes.

       -full-method-diffs

              Perform a full diff of method bodies when -check-byte-code is specified.

       -track-unchanged

              Track unchanged files in extra info.

   REPORT:
              Report will be generated to:

              pkgdiff_reports/<pkg>/<v1>_to_<v2>/changes_report.html

   EXIT CODES:
              0  -  Unchanged. The tool has run without any errors.  non-zero - Changed or the tool has run with
              errors.

   MORE INFORMATION:
              https://github.com/lvc/pkgdiff

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by Peter Spiess-Knafl <dev@spiessknafl.at> for the Debian  GNU/Linux  system
       (but may be used by others).

       Written by Andrey Ponomarenko.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2022 Andrey Ponomarenko's ABI Laboratory License: GNU GPL <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/> This
       program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it.

Package Changes Analyzer (PkgDiff) 1.8             August 2025                                        PKGDIFF(1)