Getting the difference between two repositories

Question

How can we get the difference between two git repositories?

The scenario: We have a repo_a and repo_b. The latter was created as a copy of repo_a. There have been pa

Answer 1

Meld can compare directories:

meld directory1 directory2

Just use the directories of the two git repos and you will get a nice graphical comparison:

When you click on one of the blue items, you can see what changed.

Answer 2

Your best bet is to have both repos on your local machine and use the linux diff command with the two directories as parameters:

diff -r repo-A repo-B

Answer 3

Reminder to self... fetch first, else the repository has not local hash (I guess).

step 1. Setup the upstream remote and above^

diffing a single file follows this pattern :

git diff localBranch uptreamBranch --spacepath/singlefile

git diff master upstream/nameofrepo -- src/index.js

Answer 4

An easy way to do that without touching your remotes config. From repo A, in master (assume you want to compare master branches):

git fetch path/to/repo_b.git master
git diff FETCH_HEAD

Answer 5

Once you have both branches in one repository you can do a git diff. And getting them in one repository is as easy as

git fetch /the/other/repo/.git refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/other/*