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Are there any FTP programs out there that do a file comparison as well, so I can select the local and remote files and see what actually changed? I didnt find any when I googled. But it doesnt seem like a very advanced use case to me. Surely many others would have felt the need for it.. right?

sammy
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    You can always use a tool to mount an FTP server and then use `diff`. – daknøk Aug 29 '12 at 17:25
  • You can do it through Git. I've developed PHPloy for that It is a little PHP script that allows you to deploy through one command. It uses Git to diff the changes you have made. Very fast and effective, but supports only FTP at the moment. Check it out: https://github.com/banago/PHPloy – Banago Feb 11 '14 at 12:40
  • @daknøk, It's an external server. Performance would be horrible..... – Pacerier Jul 06 '15 at 06:08
  • I want to know this answer, too. If you're going to close the question, at least point to the appropriate place to put it. – SMBiggs Jan 23 '16 at 06:35

3 Answers3

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rsync, or any version control system should be better options than plain FTP. There is nothing in the FTP protocol, apart from downloading the file and checking locally, that can help you on this use case.

AlvaroGMJ
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  • Exactly. In the worst case scenario (when both source and target are identical) you'd have to download everything to be sure. In any case, you're downloading the entire folder. That's probably why this is not a popular feature in FTP clients. – Daniel B Aug 30 '12 at 06:20
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Not free, but really worth its price: Beyond Compare You can test it 30 days for free (really 30 test days, not 30 days after installation).

You can compare folders (with subfolders) and files. FTP sites and zip files are integrated.

See also a screenshot on the website of the producer and the documentation for FTP profiles.

knut
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Kind of tricky to do a local or remote compare without downloading the file for analysis. So why not just download it or mount the FTP as a folder?

Wyatt Barnett
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