gistfile1.sh

#!/bin/bash

# ddiff: Improved diff for directories
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# This is useful for creating a diff file between two directories.
# It's built upon the tradicional diff program.
# With a difference: it will create diff files for each file present only in the first directory.
# So, for given dirs A and B:
# full-diff A B
#
# it will generate a diff file with all the difference between both directories including diffs for whole files present only in A directory;
# PS.: it also generates 'mkdir -p PATH' bash-commented commands for eventual empty directories only present on A directory.
# PS.: you can pass the same diff's options to this shell command. I strongly recommend you to always pass -r (to diff the entire directory tree, recursively).
# The output generated is meant to be applied on B directory.
#
# Author: Leandro N. Camargo
# E-mail: leandroico _=AT=_ gmail

_i=0
_np=$(expr $# - 2)
_opts=
_params=
_args=("$@")

_append_diff()
{
  if [ -d $1 ]; then
    echo "# You need to create the following directory: $1"
    echo "# mkdir -p $1"
  else
    echo "diff $_opts $1 $(echo "$1" | sed "s=$_base_dir=$_ref_dir=")"
    diff $_opts $1 /dev/null
  fi
}

while [ $_i -lt $# ]; do
  if [ $_i -lt $_np ]; then
    _opts="$_opts ${_args[$_i]}"
  else
    _t=${#_params}
    _params="$_params ${_args[$_i]}"
    if [ $_t -eq 0 ]; then
      _base_dir=${_args[$_i]}
    else
      _ref_dir=${_args[$_i]}
    fi
  fi
  _i=$(expr $_i + 1)
done

# trimming the first blank space of each var
_opts=$(echo "$_opts" | sed 's/^.//')
_params=$(echo "$_params" | sed 's/^.//')

_m_base_dir=$(echo "$_base_dir" | sed -e 's/\./\\./g' -e 's=/=\\\/=g')
_diff=$(diff $_opts $_params)
_diff_lines=$(echo "$_diff" | sed '/^Only/d')
_full_files=$(echo "$_diff" | sed -e "/^Only in $_m_base_dir/!d" -e "s=^Only in \([^:]*\): \(.*\)$=\1/\2=" -e "s=/\{2,\}=/=g")
echo "$_diff_lines"
for L in $_full_files; do
  _append_diff $L
done