Re: diff -r is not flexible in handling symlinks

[Paul Eggert]

> From: address@hidden
> Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 10:10:23 -0400
> 
> While attempting to use 'diff' to compare my Linux filesystem with a
> replica of it, I discovered that diff -r always follows symlinks.
> This was not useful, because my filesystem contained a symlink "SRC ->
> ..", which caused diff to get into an infinite loop.

The infinite loop should be fixed in GNU diffutils 2.8.1, which you
can get from:

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/diffutils/diffutils-2.8.1.tar.gz

> I believe that the utility of diff would be significantly enhanced if
> its treatment of symlinks was made the same as cp's.

It's on the list of things to do.  Thanks.