Re: [bug-diffutils] diff on char device files

[Paul Eggert]

On 07/13/10 12:33, Alexander Stein wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> once I tried to compare char device files in 2 root file systems for embedded 
> devices. I noticed I always get a difference on char device files though they 
> have the same major and minor number. It seems this is unrecognized by diff.
> After some searching I found the following patch: http://www.mail-
> archive.com/address@hidden/msg01172.html
> This addresses the current problem.

I was dubious about that proposal, since it relied on a new option.
diff should just Do The Right Thing without the user having to
specify a new option.  It's on the list of things to do.  POSIX
allows diff to work the way you like on your example, so we should
fix it to do that.