RMGDIFF(1x)															       RMGDIFF(1x)

NAME

       rmgdiff - use almost any graphical file difference browser to recursively view the differences between two directories.

SYNOPSIS

       rmgdiff [-b] [-d] [-g gui] [-n] dir1 dir2

DESCRIPTION

       rmgdiff is an awk script that works in conjunction with almost any graphical file difference browser.  It is known to work with mgdiff,
       tkdiff, and xdiff.

       Unless I am mistaken, most of the GUI difference viewers (except for emacs) do not have built-in support for recursing down two directo-
       ries, but diff does.  Based on diff's output, rmgdiff decides when to invoke the graphical difference viewer.

       In addition, rmgdiff also collates diff's output.  As soon as a new difference is encountered in a text file, rmgdiff will print to stan-
       dard output the name of the file that both directories have in common.  It will then start the GUI and block until the user exits.  As more
       text files with differences are found, the GUI will be started up again.

       In the interim, rmgdiff will keep track of differences in binary (non-text) files.  It organizes the binary files as executables, shared
       libraries, static libraries, object files, and other.  Only after all the text files have been displayed will rmgdiff report the binary
       differences.

       It also keeps track of files and directories that diff reports as being only in one directory or another.  rmgdiff organizes these entries
       by directory.  Thus, files in one directory will be reported in one block, and files that are in the other directory will be reported in a
       different block.

       In addition to printing the name of the files that are different, rmgdiff defaults to printing the relevant portion of the output from the
       file command.  This has the unfortunate side-effect of slowing things down; however, I find this information to be invaluable.  If you're
       just looking for a fast way to collate diff's output, try piping it into sort instead.

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

       -b      Sets the basic reporting mode.  In basic mode, rmgdiff reports only file names.	It does not report the file types involved.

       -c      By default, files relating to CVS are ignored by rmgdiff.  If you want to include CVS files, use this option.

       -d      Sets rmgdiff to print way too much debugging information.

       -g gui  Tells rmgdiff which gui you would like to use for viewing differences.  By default, mgdiff is used.  You can also set $RMGDIFF_GUI
	       in your environment, but it can be overridden with this option.

       -n      rmgdiff will not invoke the gui.  This is useful, if you only want to view the collated output.

AUTHOR

       Paul Serice (paul@serice.net)

																       RMGDIFF(1x)