1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
|
.\" Man page generated from reStructuredText.
.
.
.nr rst2man-indent-level 0
.
.de1 rstReportMargin
\\$1 \\n[an-margin]
level \\n[rst2man-indent-level]
level margin: \\n[rst2man-indent\\n[rst2man-indent-level]]
-
\\n[rst2man-indent0]
\\n[rst2man-indent1]
\\n[rst2man-indent2]
..
.de1 INDENT
.\" .rstReportMargin pre:
. RS \\$1
. nr rst2man-indent\\n[rst2man-indent-level] \\n[an-margin]
. nr rst2man-indent-level +1
.\" .rstReportMargin post:
..
.de UNINDENT
. RE
.\" indent \\n[an-margin]
.\" old: \\n[rst2man-indent\\n[rst2man-indent-level]]
.nr rst2man-indent-level -1
.\" new: \\n[rst2man-indent\\n[rst2man-indent-level]]
.in \\n[rst2man-indent\\n[rst2man-indent-level]]u
..
.TH "BORG-DIFF" "1" "2025-12-01" "" "borg backup tool"
.SH NAME
borg-diff \- Diff contents of two archives
.SH SYNOPSIS
.sp
borg [common options] diff [options] REPO::ARCHIVE1 ARCHIVE2 [PATH...]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.sp
This command finds differences (file contents, user/group/mode) between archives.
.sp
A repository location and an archive name must be specified for REPO::ARCHIVE1.
ARCHIVE2 is just another archive name in the same repository (no repository location
allowed).
.SS What is compared
.sp
For each matching item in both archives, Borg reports:
.INDENT 0.0
.IP \(bu 2
Content changes: total added/removed bytes within files. If chunker parameters are comparable,
Borg compares chunk IDs quickly; otherwise, it compares the content.
.IP \(bu 2
Metadata changes: user, group, mode, and other metadata shown inline like
\(dq[old_mode \-> new_mode]\(dq for mode changes. Use \fB\-\-content\-only\fP to suppress metadata changes.
.IP \(bu 2
Added/removed items: printed as \(dqadded SIZE path\(dq or \(dqremoved SIZE path\(dq.
.UNINDENT
.SS Output formats
.sp
The default (text) output shows one line per changed path, e.g.:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
+135 B \-252 B [ \-rw\-r\-\-r\-\- \-> \-rwxr\-xr\-x ] path/to/file
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
JSON Lines output (\fB\-\-json\-lines\fP) prints one JSON object per changed path, e.g.:
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
{\(dqpath\(dq: \(dqPATH\(dq, \(dqchanges\(dq: [
{\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqmodified\(dq, \(dqadded\(dq: BYTES, \(dqremoved\(dq: BYTES},
{\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqmode\(dq, \(dqold_mode\(dq: \(dq\-rw\-r\-\-r\-\-\(dq, \(dqnew_mode\(dq: \(dq\-rwxr\-xr\-x\(dq},
{\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqadded\(dq, \(dqsize\(dq: SIZE},
{\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqremoved\(dq, \(dqsize\(dq: SIZE}
]}
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.sp
Only actual changes are included in the \(dqchanges\(dq list. For example, a modified entry with
added=0 and removed=0 is omitted.
.SS Sorting
.sp
Use \fB\-\-sort\-by FIELDS\fP where FIELDS is a comma\-separated list of fields.
Sorts are applied stably from last to first in the given list. Prepend \(dq>\(dq for
descending, \(dq<\(dq (or no prefix) for ascending, for example \fB\-\-sort\-by=\(dq>size_added,path\(dq\fP\&.
Supported fields include:
.INDENT 0.0
.IP \(bu 2
path: the item path
.IP \(bu 2
size_added: total bytes added for the item content
.IP \(bu 2
size_removed: total bytes removed for the item content
.IP \(bu 2
size_diff: size_added \- size_removed (net content change)
.IP \(bu 2
size: size of the item as stored in ARCHIVE2 (0 for removed items)
.IP \(bu 2
user, group, uid, gid, ctime, mtime: taken from the item state in ARCHIVE2 when present
.IP \(bu 2
ctime_diff, mtime_diff: timestamp difference (archive2 \- archive1)
.UNINDENT
.sp
The \fB\-\-sort\fP option is deprecated and only sorts by path.
.SS Performance considerations
.sp
For archives created with Borg 1.1 or newer, diff automatically detects whether
the archives were created with the same chunker parameters. If so, only chunk IDs
are compared, which is very fast.
.sp
For archives prior to Borg 1.1, chunk contents are compared by default.
If you did not create the archives with different chunker parameters,
pass \fB\-\-same\-chunker\-params\fP\&.
Note that the chunker parameters changed from Borg 0.xx to 1.0.
.sp
For more help on include/exclude patterns, see the \fIborg_patterns\fP command output.
.SH OPTIONS
.sp
See \fIborg\-common(1)\fP for common options of Borg commands.
.SS arguments
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B REPO::ARCHIVE1
repository location and ARCHIVE1 name
.TP
.B ARCHIVE2
ARCHIVE2 name (no repository location allowed)
.TP
.B PATH
paths of items inside the archives to compare; patterns are supported
.UNINDENT
.SS options
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B \-\-numeric\-owner
deprecated, use \fB\-\-numeric\-ids\fP instead
.TP
.B \-\-numeric\-ids
only consider numeric user and group identifiers
.TP
.B \-\-same\-chunker\-params
Override check of chunker parameters.
.TP
.B \-\-sort
Sort the output by path (deprecated, use \-\-sort\-by=path).
.UNINDENT
.IP "System Message: WARNING/2 (docs/borg-diff.rst:, line 119)"
Option list ends without a blank line; unexpected unindent.
.sp
\-\-sort\-by FIELD[,FIELD...] Advanced sorting: specify field(s) to sort by. Accepts a comma\-separated list. Prefix with > for descending or < for ascending (default).
\-\-content\-only Only compare differences in content (exclude metadata differences)
\-\-json\-lines Format output as JSON Lines.
.SS Include/Exclude options
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.BI \-e \ PATTERN\fR,\fB \ \-\-exclude \ PATTERN
exclude paths matching PATTERN
.TP
.BI \-\-exclude\-from \ EXCLUDEFILE
read exclude patterns from EXCLUDEFILE, one per line
.TP
.BI \-\-pattern \ PATTERN
include/exclude paths matching PATTERN
.TP
.BI \-\-patterns\-from \ PATTERNFILE
read include/exclude patterns from PATTERNFILE, one per line
.UNINDENT
.SH EXAMPLES
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
$ borg init \-e=none testrepo
$ mkdir testdir
$ cd testdir
$ echo asdf > file1
$ dd if=/dev/urandom bs=1M count=4 > file2
$ touch file3
$ borg create ../testrepo::archive1 .
$ chmod a+x file1
$ echo \(dqsomething\(dq >> file2
$ borg create ../testrepo::archive2 .
$ echo \(dqtesting 123\(dq >> file1
$ rm file3
$ touch file4
$ borg create ../testrepo::archive3 .
$ cd ..
$ borg diff testrepo::archive1 archive2
[\-rw\-r\-\-r\-\- \-> \-rwxr\-xr\-x] file1
+135 B \-252 B file2
$ borg diff testrepo::archive2 archive3
+17 B \-5 B file1
added 0 B file4
removed 0 B file3
$ borg diff testrepo::archive1 archive3
+17 B \-5 B [\-rw\-r\-\-r\-\- \-> \-rwxr\-xr\-x] file1
+135 B \-252 B file2
added 0 B file4
removed 0 B file3
$ borg diff \-\-json\-lines testrepo::archive1 archive3
{\(dqpath\(dq: \(dqfile1\(dq, \(dqchanges\(dq: [{\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqmodified\(dq, \(dqadded\(dq: 17, \(dqremoved\(dq: 5}, {\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqmode\(dq, \(dqold_mode\(dq: \(dq\-rw\-r\-\-r\-\-\(dq, \(dqnew_mode\(dq: \(dq\-rwxr\-xr\-x\(dq}]}
{\(dqpath\(dq: \(dqfile2\(dq, \(dqchanges\(dq: [{\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqmodified\(dq, \(dqadded\(dq: 135, \(dqremoved\(dq: 252}]}
{\(dqpath\(dq: \(dqfile4\(dq, \(dqchanges\(dq: [{\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqadded\(dq, \(dqsize\(dq: 0}]}
{\(dqpath\(dq: \(dqfile3\(dq, \(dqchanges\(dq: [{\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqremoved\(dq, \(dqsize\(dq: 0}]}
# Use \-\-sort\-by with a comma\-separated list; sorts apply stably from last to first.
# Here: primary by net size change descending, tie\-breaker by path ascending
$ borg diff \-\-sort\-by=\(dq>size_diff,path\(dq testrepo::archive1 archive3
+17 B \-5 B [\-rw\-r\-\-r\-\- \-> \-rwxr\-xr\-x] file1
removed 0 B file3
added 0 B file4
+135 B \-252 B file2
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SH SEE ALSO
.sp
\fIborg\-common(1)\fP
.SH AUTHOR
The Borg Collective
.\" Generated by docutils manpage writer.
.
|
