[Reproducible-builds] [RFC] debbindiff

[Jérémy Bobbio]

Hi!

I've been working at high pace since Sunday on a replacement for the
diffp script [1]. These GPLv3 lines of Python are called debbindiff.

Get it from Git:

    https://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/reproducible/debbindiff.git/

Attached is an output produced for the attr package. The new tool is at
least as capable as diffp, is way more extensible, and the result is
more readable.

Example usage:

    $ ./debbindiff.py --html /tmp/debbindiff.html b1/*.changes b2/*.changes

There's no requirements for actually comparing .changes. You can use it
to compare jar files directly if that's your kick.

I'd love to see reviews of the code. It's scarce on comments but names
should be explicit enough, or so I hope.

It's missing Debian packaging. I guess I should learn how to write a
setup.cfg or similar. Pointers or patches welcome.

One thing this codebase should enable is writing “hints”. Once the tree
of differences is generated, it should be doable to run through it to
generate statements like: “Many files in data.tar have different
timestamps, dh_fixmtimes has probably not been called. Are you
using dh?” This still needs to be done though.

Last note: I've been pushing everything else aside while I had the
thrills to work on this. It's unclear when will be the next time, so
patches are preferred rather than suggestion.

 [1]: https://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/reproducible/misc.git/tree/diffp

-- 
Lunar                                .''`. 
lunar at debian.org                    : :Ⓐ  :  # apt-get install anarchism
                                    `. `'` 
                                      `-   
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/reproducible-builds/attachments/20140930/3358aa43/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 819 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/reproducible-builds/attachments/20140930/3358aa43/attachment.sig>