Linux: Diff Two Directories?

Question

I want to perform a diff between two directories and see what files (if any) have changed. Is there an easy way to do this? I've tried to use diff but it seems to only show the file-content differences.

Answer 1

EDIT: This has been asked and answered before: Different files of two directories. I just typed "diff directory" in the search box, and there it was.

$ diff -r -q DIR1 DIR2

?

$ diff --help
[...]
-q  --brief  Output only whether files differ.
[...]
-r  --recursive  Recursively compare any subdirectories found.
[...]

Answer 2

rsync -n (dry run) will do what you need. check rsync --help output for any other options that you may find useful when searching for changes. i wouldn't use diff to do this.

edit: including example

cia@pinkpony:~$ rsync -nric  dev2/py/lib/sysami/ dev/py/lib/sysami/
>fcsT...... __init__.py