CompareFolders is a Java 1.4 application to compare two folders to determine if all files and subfolders are identical. The folders may be on the same computer, on the local network, or they may be represented by checksum files. Files or subfolders that are not the same are reported to the user. The intention is to decide if two different distribution folders have the same contents.

Checksum files are used when the original files or folders are not available. A checksum file is a plain text file in XML (Extensible Markup Language) format with the name, size, and checksums for each file. Checksums are small hexadecimal “signatures�? for testing whether or not files have been copied correctly, such as over a network. One person sends a file along with the checksum computed on the original computer. A second person calculates a similar checksum for the received file, and if the two checksums agree, then the received file is assumed to be correct.