Diffing files via FTP

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I ran into a situation today where I needed to diff files on a remote server against the ones on a local server when the only connection method I had to connect to the remote server was FTP. I wrote a little quick and dirty script to diff files over FTP. It’s stupid simple - it downloads the file and runs diff on it against a local file, outputting the result.

It’s great for finding changes on a webhost that cripples real developers by only offering FTP. It’s also a great companion to ftpsync, which apes some of the functionality of rsync, again on crippled webhosts.

The command format is:

ftpdiff <local file> <username:password@host:/path/to/file>

About the Author

Hi, I'm Rob! I'm a blogger and software developer. I wrote petfeedd, dystill, and various other projects and libraries. I'm into electronics, general hackery, and model trains and airplanes. I am based in Huntsville, Alabama, USA.

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