git-diff-archive

A lightweight Git plugin that exports only the changed files between two commits into a neat archive — complete with a deleted-files.txt manifest.

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💡 Why this exists

Some projects still live in the past — no CI/CD, no Git on the destination server, maybe even FTP deployments. But you still want a Git-based workflow and a painless way to ship only what changed.

That’s where this tool fits: It finds everything that changed between two commits (except deletions), archives it, and gives you a list of deleted files — so you can quickly update your production codebase without hunting through diffs manually.

Disclaimer: Yes, it’s a workaround. Yes, you should upgrade your infrastructure. But until that glorious day — this keeps you sane.

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🧱 Features

• 🔹 Exports added and modified files between any two commits
• 🔹 Skips deletions automatically
• 🔹 Generates a deleted-files.txt manifest and includes it in the archive
• 🔹 Supports both .zip and .tar formats
• 🔹 Automatically appends timestamps to archive filenames
• 🔹 Optional --stamp adds short commit hashes to filenames
• 🔹 Fully NUL-safe (handles filenames with spaces or special chars)
• 🔹 Works as a regular Git subcommand: git diff-archive

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⚙️ Installation

git clone https://github.com/balaianu/git-diff-archive.git
cd git-diff-archive
make install

This installs the git-diff-archive executable to ~/bin, making it available for your current user (no sudo needed).

To uninstall:

cd git-diff-archive
make uninstall

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🚀 Usage

From inside any Git repository:

git diff-archive [options] [<from_commit> [<to_commit>]]

Default behavior

If you don’t specify commits:

• from_commit defaults to HEAD^1
• to_commit defaults to HEAD

The archive will be created in your home folder (~/) as projectname_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.zip

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🧬 Options

Flag	Description
-d, --destination	Path to folder where the archive will be saved (default: ~)
-n, --name	Custom archive name (default: current folder name)
-f, --format	Archive format: zip or tar (default: zip)
-s, --stamp	Append short commit hashes to the archive name
-v, --version	Display current plugin version
-h, --help	Show usage information

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🧪 Examples

Export changes between HEAD and an older commit:

git diff-archive 702b3f

Export changes between two specific commits:

git diff-archive v1.0.0 v1.1.0

Save output as a .tar archive:

git diff-archive --format tar

Change destination and name:

git diff-archive -d ~/Desktop -n release_patch

Add commit hashes to the filename:

git diff-archive --stamp

Show help or version:

git diff-archive -h
git diff-archive -v

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📦 Output Example

Running:

git diff-archive v1.0.0 v1.1.0 --stamp

Produces something like:

~/myproject_v1.0.0_v1.1.0_2025-10-28_16-45-12.zip

Contents:

src/
 ├─ api/
 │   └─ endpoints.js
 ├─ main.py
 └─ utils/helpers.py
deleted-files.txt

deleted-files.txt will list all paths removed between the two commits.

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🛠 Known Limitations

• Submodules are not archived (currently skipped)
• Binary files are included as-is (no diff filtering)
• Deterministic archives (fixed timestamps) not yet implemented
• Destination path must exist before running

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🐞 Issues & Requests

Found a bug? Have an idea? Open an issue or feature request on GitHub — ideally with:

• The command you ran
• The Git version you’re using
• The type of archive (zip or tar)
• Expected vs actual behavior

I built this for personal use, but I’ll try to fix bugs or merge useful improvements when time allows.

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🤝 Contributing

Pull requests are welcome!

Type	Target branch
🐛 Bug fixes	master
✨ Enhancements / Features	develop

Make sure your changes are POSIX-compliant and keep the script minimal and portable.

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📾 License

GPL-3.0 — see the LICENSE file for details.

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🖯 TL;DR

“A tiny Git plugin for people who still deploy like it’s 2009 — but with 2025-level sanity.”