Diff File

git pkgs diff-file compares dependencies between two manifest files directly, without a git repository or database. It runs the same diff algorithm as git pkgs diff but takes file paths instead of git refs.

Usage

git pkgs diff-file [from] [to]

Compare two lockfiles:

git pkgs diff-file Gemfile.lock.old Gemfile.lock
git pkgs diff-file /path/to/project-a/package.json /path/to/project-b/package.json

Options

--filename overrides the filename used for manifest type detection. Useful when comparing files with non-standard names:

git pkgs diff-file before.lock after.lock --filename=Gemfile.lock

-t, --type filters by dependency type (runtime, development, etc.):

git pkgs diff-file old.lock new.lock --type=runtime

-f, --format sets the output format (text or json):

git pkgs diff-file old.lock new.lock -f json

Use cases

Comparing dependencies across different projects, without needing them in the same git repository.

Analyzing archived source code or tarballs where git history isn’t available.

Running the diff tool in repositories using other version control systems like jj.