How to compare differences between directories (linux)

Posted by Phil on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Phil
Published on 2009-08-26T16:17:27Z Indexed on 2012/09/08 21:40 UTC
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linux

I have two directories - one from earlier backup and second from newest backup. How do i compare what changes were made to files in directory from newest backup on Linux? Also how do i display changes in for example text and php files - i'm thinking about something like revision history on wikipedia where you see old version on one side of the screen and newest version on other and changes are highlighted. How do i achieve something like that?

edit: How do i also compare remote dir with local?

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