diff --git a/zfs/diff.go b/zfs/diff.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6cbd5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/diff.go
@@ -0,0 +1,169 @@
+package zfs
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+type VersionType string
+
+const (
+	Bookmark VersionType = "bookmark"
+	Snapshot             = "snapshot"
+)
+
+type FilesystemVersion struct {
+	Type VersionType
+	Name string
+	//ZFS_PROP_CREATETX and ZFS_PROP_GUID would be nice here => ZFS_PROP_CREATETX, libzfs_dataset.c:zfs_prop_get
+}
+
+/* The sender (left) wants to know if the receiver (right) has more recent versions
+
+	Left :         | C |
+	Right: | A | B | C | D | E |
+	=>   :         | C | D | E |
+
+	Left:         | C |
+	Right:			  | D | E |
+	=>   :  <empty list>, no common ancestor
+
+	Left :         | C | D | E |
+	Right: | A | B | C |
+	=>   :  <empty list>, the left has newer versions
+
+	Left : | A | B | C |       | F |
+	Right:         | C | D | E |
+	=>   :         | C |	   | F | => diverged => <empty list>
+
+IMPORTANT: since ZFS currently does not export dataset UUIDs, the best heuristic to
+		   identify a filesystem version is the tuple (name,creation)
+*/
+type FilesystemDiff struct {
+
+	// The increments required to get left up to right's most recent version
+	// 0th element is the common ancestor, ordered by birthtime, oldest first
+	// If empty, left and right are at same most recent version
+	// If nil, there is no incremental path for left to get to right's most recent version
+	// This means either (check Diverged field to determine which case we are in)
+	//   a) no common ancestor (left deleted all the snapshots it previously transferred to right)
+	//		=> consult MRCAPathRight and request initial retransfer after prep on left side
+	//   b) divergence bewteen left and right (left made snapshots that right doesn't have)
+	//   	=> check MRCAPathLeft and MRCAPathRight and decide what to do based on that
+	IncrementalPath []FilesystemVersion
+
+	// true if left and right diverged, false otherwise
+	Diverged bool
+	// If Diverged, contains path from left most recent common ancestor (mrca)
+	// to most recent version on left
+	// Otherwise: nil
+	MRCAPathLeft []FilesystemVersion
+	// If  Diverged, contains path from right most recent common ancestor (mrca)
+	// to most recent version on right
+	// If there is no common ancestor (i.e. not diverged), contains entire list of
+	// versions on right
+	MRCAPathRight []FilesystemVersion
+}
+
+func ZFSListFilesystemVersions(fs DatasetPath) (res []FilesystemVersion, err error) {
+	var fieldLines [][]string
+	fieldLines, err = ZFSList(
+		[]string{"name"},
+		"-r", "-d", "1",
+		"-t", "bookmark,snapshot",
+		"-s", "creation", fs.ToString())
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	res = make([]FilesystemVersion, len(fieldLines))
+	for i, line := range fieldLines {
+
+		if len(line[0]) < 3 {
+			err = errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("snapshot or bookmark name implausibly short: %s", line[0]))
+			return
+		}
+
+		snapSplit := strings.SplitN(line[0], "@", 2)
+		bookmarkSplit := strings.SplitN(line[0], "#", 2)
+		if len(snapSplit)*len(bookmarkSplit) != 2 {
+			err = errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("dataset cannot be snapshot and bookmark at the same time: %s", line[0]))
+			return
+		}
+
+		var v FilesystemVersion
+		if len(snapSplit) == 2 {
+			v.Name = snapSplit[1]
+			v.Type = Snapshot
+		} else {
+			v.Name = bookmarkSplit[1]
+			v.Type = Bookmark
+		}
+
+		res[i] = v
+
+	}
+	return
+}
+
+// we must assume left and right are ordered ascendingly by ZFS_PROP_CREATETXG and that
+// names are unique (bas ZFS_PROP_GUID replacement)
+func MakeFilesystemDiff(left, right []FilesystemVersion) (diff FilesystemDiff) {
+
+	// Find most recent common ancestor by name, preferring snapshots over bookmars
+	mrcaLeft := len(left) - 1
+	var mrcaRight int
+outer:
+	for ; mrcaLeft >= 0; mrcaLeft-- {
+		for i := len(right) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
+			if left[mrcaLeft].Name == right[i].Name {
+				mrcaRight = i
+				if i-1 >= 0 && right[i-1].Name == right[i].Name && right[i-1].Type == Snapshot {
+					// prefer snapshots over bookmarks
+					mrcaRight = i - 1
+				}
+				break outer
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	// no common ancestor?
+	if mrcaLeft == -1 {
+		diff = FilesystemDiff{
+			IncrementalPath: nil,
+			Diverged:        false,
+			MRCAPathRight:   right,
+		}
+		return
+	}
+
+	// diverged?
+	if mrcaLeft != len(left)-1 {
+		diff = FilesystemDiff{
+			IncrementalPath: nil,
+			Diverged:        true,
+			MRCAPathLeft:    left[mrcaLeft:],
+			MRCAPathRight:   right[mrcaRight:],
+		}
+		return
+	}
+
+	if mrcaLeft != len(left)-1 {
+		panic("invariant violated: mrca on left must be the last item in the left list")
+	}
+
+	// strip bookmarks going forward from right
+	incPath := make([]FilesystemVersion, 0, len(right))
+	incPath = append(incPath, right[mrcaRight])
+	// right[mrcaRight] may be a bookmark if there's no equally named snapshot
+	for i := mrcaRight + 1; i < len(right); i++ {
+		if right[i].Type != Bookmark {
+			incPath = append(incPath, right[i])
+		}
+	}
+
+	diff = FilesystemDiff{
+		IncrementalPath: incPath,
+	}
+	return
+}
diff --git a/zfs/diff_test.go b/zfs/diff_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad9e3d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zfs/diff_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+package zfs
+
+import (
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func fsvlist(fsv ...string) (r []FilesystemVersion) {
+
+	r = make([]FilesystemVersion, len(fsv))
+	for i, f := range fsv {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(f, "#") {
+			r[i] = FilesystemVersion{
+				Name: strings.TrimPrefix(f, "#"),
+				Type: Bookmark,
+			}
+		} else if strings.HasPrefix(f, "@") {
+			r[i] = FilesystemVersion{
+				Name: strings.TrimPrefix(f, "@"),
+				Type: Snapshot,
+			}
+		} else {
+			panic("invalid character")
+		}
+	}
+	return
+}
+
+func doTest(left, right []FilesystemVersion, validate func(d FilesystemDiff)) {
+	var d FilesystemDiff
+	d = MakeFilesystemDiff(left, right)
+	validate(d)
+}
+
+func TestMakeFilesystemDiff_IncrementalSnapshots(t *testing.T) {
+
+	l := fsvlist
+
+	// basic functionality
+	doTest(l("@a", "@b"), l("@a", "@b", "@c", "@d"), func(d FilesystemDiff) {
+		assert.Equal(t, l("@b", "@c", "@d"), d.IncrementalPath)
+	})
+
+	// no common ancestor
+	doTest(l(), l("@a"), func(d FilesystemDiff) {
+		assert.Nil(t, d.IncrementalPath)
+		assert.False(t, d.Diverged)
+		assert.Equal(t, l("@a"), d.MRCAPathRight)
+	})
+	doTest(l("@a", "@b"), l("@c", "@d"), func(d FilesystemDiff) {
+		assert.Nil(t, d.IncrementalPath)
+		assert.False(t, d.Diverged)
+		assert.Equal(t, l("@c", "@d"), d.MRCAPathRight)
+	})
+
+	// divergence is detected
+	doTest(l("@a", "@b1"), l("@a", "@b2"), func(d FilesystemDiff) {
+		assert.Nil(t, d.IncrementalPath)
+		assert.True(t, d.Diverged)
+		assert.Equal(t, l("@a", "@b1"), d.MRCAPathLeft)
+		assert.Equal(t, l("@a", "@b2"), d.MRCAPathRight)
+	})
+
+	// gaps before most recent common ancestor do not matter
+	doTest(l("@a", "@b", "@c"), l("@a", "@c", "@d"), func(d FilesystemDiff) {
+		assert.Equal(t, l("@c", "@d"), d.IncrementalPath)
+	})
+
+}
+
+func TestMakeFilesystemDiff_BookmarksSupport(t *testing.T) {
+	l := fsvlist
+
+	// bookmarks are used
+	doTest(l("@a"), l("#a", "@b"), func(d FilesystemDiff) {
+		assert.Equal(t, l("#a", "@b"), d.IncrementalPath)
+	})
+
+	// boomarks are stripped from IncrementalPath (cannot send incrementally)
+	doTest(l("@a"), l("#a", "#b", "@c"), func(d FilesystemDiff) {
+		assert.Equal(t, l("#a", "@c"), d.IncrementalPath)
+	})
+
+	// test that snapshots are preferred over bookmarks in IncrementalPath
+	doTest(l("@a"), l("#a", "@a", "@b"), func(d FilesystemDiff) {
+		assert.Equal(t, l("@a", "@b"), d.IncrementalPath)
+	})
+	doTest(l("@a"), l("@a", "#a", "@b"), func(d FilesystemDiff) {
+		assert.Equal(t, l("@a", "@b"), d.IncrementalPath)
+	})
+
+}