rdiff(1)                    General Commands Manual                   rdiff(1)

NAME
       rdiff - compute and apply signature-based file differences

SYNOPSYS
       rdiff [options] signature old-file signature-file

       rdiff [options] delta signature-file new-file delta-file

       rdiff [options] patch old-file delta-file new-file

USAGE
       You can use rdiff to update files, much like rsync does.  However,
       unlike rsync, rdiff puts you in control.  There are three steps to
       updating a file: signature, delta, and patch. Use the signature
       subcommand to generate a small signature-file from the old-file. Use
       the delta subcommand to generate a small delta-file from the signature-
       file to the new-file. Use the patch subcommand to apply the delta-file
       to the old-file to regenerate the new-file.


DESCRIPTION
       In every case where a filename must be specified, - may be used instead
       to mean either standard input or standard output as appropriate.  Be
       aware that if you do this, you'll need to terminate your options with
       -- or rdiff will think you are passing it an empty option.

RETURN VALUE
       0 for successful completion, 1 for environmental problems (file not
       found, invalid options, IO error, etc), 2 for a corrupt file and 3 for
       an internal error or unhandled situation in librsync or rdiff.

SEE ALSO
       librsync(3)

AUTHOR
       Martin Pool <mbp@sourcefrog.net>

       The original rsync algorithm was discovered by Andrew Tridgell.

       rdiff development has been supported by Linuxcare, Inc and VA Linux
       Systems.

                                    $Date$                            rdiff(1)