[TUHS] Be there a "remote diff" utility?

[George Michaelson]

Sshfs

G

On Thu, 16 May 2024, 5:34 pm Ralph Corderoy, <ralph at inputplus.co.uk> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I've set ‘mail-followup-to: coff at tuhs.org’.
>
> > > Every so often I want to compare files on remote machines, but all
> > > I can do is to fetch them first (usually into /tmp); I'd like to do
> > > something like:
> > >
> > >     rdiff host1:file1 host2:file2
> > >
> > > Breathes there such a beast?
>
> No, nor should there.  It would be slain less it beget rcmp, rcomm,
> rpaste, ...
>
> > > Think of it as an extension to the Unix philosophy of "Everything
> > > looks like a file"...
>
> Then make remote files look local as far as their access is concerned.
> Ideally at the system-call level.  Less ideal, at libc.a.
>
> > Maybe
> >
> >     diff -u <(ssh host1 cat file1) <(ssh host2 cat file2)
>
> This is annoyingly noisy if the remote SSH server has sshd_config(5)'s
> ‘Banner’ set which spews the contents of a file before authentication,
> e.g. the pointless
>
>     This computer system is the property of ...
>
>     Disconnect NOW if you have not been expressly authorised to use this
>     system.  Unauthorised use is a criminal offence under the Computer
>     Misuse Act 1990.
>
>     Communications on or through ...uk's computer systems may be
>     monitored or recorded to secure effective system operation and for
>     other lawful purposes.
>
> It appears on stderr so doesn't upset the diff but does clutter.
> And discarding stderr is too sloppy.
>
> --
> Cheers, Ralph.
>
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