VMA Comparer

Overview

VMA Comparer is a command-line application built on .NET 8 that facilitates the comparison of VMA (Virtual Machine Archive) backup files. Since the 2.3 release, Proxmox Virtual Environment (PVE) has introduced a new backup format called VMA, replacing the old common .tar format. VMA files, like the old .tar files, can be compressed in .lzo or .gz formats. This tool aids in comparing VMA backup files, providing insights into the block-level differences between two VMA files, as well as displaying header information of a single VMA file.

Features

• Information Command: Display header information of a single VMA backup file.
• Comparison Command: Compare two VMA backup files block by block to identify differences.
• Verbose Output: Enable verbose output for more detailed information during execution.

Installation

To use VMA Comparer, ensure you have .NET 8 SDK installed on your system.

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/quintushr/VMAComparer.git

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd VMA-Comparer

3. Build the project:

   dotnet build

Usage

Information Command

Display header information of a single VMA backup file.

dotnet run info --path <vma-file-path>

• vma-file-path: Path to the VMA backup file.

Example

dotnet run info --path /path/to/file.vma

Compare Command

Compare two VMA backup files block by block.

dotnet run compare --source <source-path> --target <target-path> [--details] [--verbose]

• source-path: Path to the source VMA backup file.
• target-path: Path to the target VMA backup file.
• --details: (Optional) Display detailed block comparison.
• --verbose: (Optional) Enable verbose output.

Example

dotnet run compare --source /path/to/source.vma --target /path/to/target.vma --details --verbose

Examples

Information Command

To display header information of a VMA file:

dotnet run info --path /path/to/file.vma

Compare Command

To compare two VMA files and display detailed block comparison with verbose output:

dotnet run compare --source /path/to/source.vma --target /path/to/target.vma --details --verbose

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to open issues or pull requests for any improvements or features you'd like to see.

Version

v0.0.1

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License.