Ed The Dev .com › diff a directory with Python

I needed to diff the entire contents of two code directories today (a lot of old code files and new code files before and after for a security audit). There is probably a simple *Nix pipe-style command to do that; but I have more programmer in my blood than *Nix admin.

Without further ado, here’s the script:



import subprocess
import os
import traceback

report_file = "diff_report.txt"
home = "/home/edward/audit"
old = "prod"
new = "testing"
file_type = ".pm"

# diff = "/usr/bin/tkdiff"
diff = "/usr/bin/diff"

# Report header...
report = open(report_file, 'w')
report.write('Diffs and files that are new:\n') 
report.close() 

# Processing...
report = open(report_file, 'a')
new_files = os.listdir('./%s' % new)

for file_name in new_files:
    old_file = "%s/%s/%s" % (home, old, file_name)
    new_file = "%s/%s/%s" % (home, new, file_name)
    args = "%s %s" % (new_file, old_file)
    command = "%s %s" % (diff, args)
    command_input = [diff, new_file, old_file]
  #   call(command_input)
    if file_type in file_name:
        if os.path.exists(old_file):
           print "Running command: %s" % command
           try:
               diff_job = subprocess.Popen(command_input, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
               report.write("--- Diff of %s:\n" % file_name)
               report.write(diff_job.communicate()[0])
           except Exception, e:
               print "Command failed: %s" % command
               raise e
               print traceback.print_stack()
        else:
            report.write("--- New file %s:\n" % file_name)
            new_handle = open(new_file, 'r')
            report.write(new_handle.read())
            new_handle.close()

report.close()