How It Works
After installation, the DiffDog Server files, including the executable files that are used at the command line, are copied to the default program installation directory (see table below).
Windows | C:\Program Files\Altova\DiffDogServer2025\ C:\Program Files (x86)\Altova\DiffDogServer2025\ |
Linux | /opt/Altova/DiffDogServer2025/ |
macOS | /usr/local/Altova/DiffDogServer2025/ |
DiffDog Server executables
The program installation directory (table above) contains two executables that you will work with: the DiffDog Server executable in the bin subdirectory and the DiffDog Command Line Client executable in the cmdlclient subdirectory.
DiffDog Server executable
The DiffDog Server executable in the bin subdirectory provides both data-differencing commands as well as configuration-related commands (for licensing DiffDog Server, starting it as a service, resetting it to the default configuration, etc). The server executable is called using the following syntax:
diffdogserver [options] <command> [arguments]
DiffDog Command Line Client
The DiffDog Command Line Client executable in the cmdlclient subdirectory provides data-differencing commands. The client executable reads a client configuration file, which contains the connection information for DiffDog Server, and calls DiffDog Server to provide data-differencing commands. This not only allows for directories or files that are on the client to be compared with each other, but also enables comparisons between comparison objects that are on different machines (on the client and on the server). The client executable is called using the following syntax:
DiffDogCmdlClient [options] <command> [arguments]
Important points
Note the following points:
•To call the executable (client or server) by name only, that is, without the full path, add the program installation directory to your system's PATH variable.
•A DiffDog Command Line Client can run on the same machine as DiffDog Server, or on a different machine. Having a client and DiffDog Server on different machines enables you to compare a client-side file/directory with a remote server-side file/directory, or vice versa.
•The client and the server can be on different operating systems. The advantage of such a setup is that it enables you to run comparisons from virtually any client configured to communicate with the server. For information about how to configure the server to accept calls from remote clients, see Remote Client Setup.
•
•On Linux, use an all-lowercase executable name.
•On Linux and macOS, you might need to add ./ before the name of the executable when calling it from the current directory of the command shell.
For detailed information about setting up the server and the client, see Configure Server and Clients. The CLI commands are organized into two parts: (i) data-differencing and other commands that can be used with both server and client executables; (ii) administration commands that are provided by the server executable.