I just installed Phonegap for the first time and just browsed through the docs. What confuses me is the fact that some docs are using the command "phonegap" and some "cordova".
Android platform guide:
$ cordova create hello com.example.hello "HelloWorld"
Command Line Interface guide tells:
$ phonegap create hello com.example.hello HelloWorld
Is there a difference between those two commands (resulting in different files and folder structures) or are they just aliases for the same thing?
http://phonegap.com/blog/2012/03/19/phonegap-cordova-and-whate28099s-in-a-name/
I think this url explains what you need. Phonegap is built on Apache Cordova nothing else. You can think of Apache Cordova as the engine that powers PhoneGap. Over time, the PhoneGap distribution may contain additional tools and thats why they differ in command But they do same thing.
EDIT: Extra info added as its about command difference and what phonegap can do while apache cordova can't or viceversa
First of command line option of PhoneGap
http://docs.phonegap.com/en/edge/guide_cli_index.md.html
Apache Cordova Options http://cordova.apache.org/docs/en/3.0.0/guide_cli_index.md.html#The%20Command-line%20Interface
As almost most of commands are similar. There are few differences (Note: No difference in Codebase)
Adobe can add additional features to PhoneGap so that will not be in Cordova ,Eg: Building applications remotely for that you need to have account on https://build.phonegap.com
Though For local builds phonegap cli uses cordova cli (Link to check: https://github.com/phonegap/phonegap-cli/blob/master/lib/phonegap/util/platform.js)
Platform Environment Names. Mapping:
'local' => cordova-cli
'remote' => PhoneGap/Build
Also from following repository: Modules which requires cordova are:
build
create
install
local install
local plugin add , list , remove
run
mode
platform update
run
Which dont include cordova:
remote build
remote install
remote login,logout
remote run
serve