compare-binary-versions

Compare Binary Versions

Overview

Build a matched comparison before interpreting a delta. Attribute what changed to exact artifacts and environments, not to filenames or latest labels.

Workflow

1. Define the comparison question.

   • Name the suspected behavior, component, mitigation, dependency, symbol, or resource change.
   • Decide whether the result needs to locate an introducing build or only show a difference between two endpoints.

2. Match the inputs.

   • Record hashes, build numbers, platform and hardware class, architecture or runtime, binary UUID or build ID, signing identity, container path, and acquisition source.
   • Record extraction, decryption, thinning, normalization, or symbol-application steps.
   • Reject comparisons that silently mix Simulator and device, translated and native, debug and release, or different architecture slices.

3. Match the analysis environment.

   • Record tool versions, loaders, analysis presets, symbol inputs, base addresses, and scripts.
   • Re-run both sides with the same method when a prior result lacks equivalent context.

4. Compare from stable structure outward.

   • Container and metadata identity.
   • Dependencies, imports, exports, sections, resources, entitlements, and signatures.
   • Symbols, functions, types, constants, strings, and references.
   • Control-flow or pseudocode only after address and function correspondence is established.

5. Track correspondence.

   • Match by stable symbol or metadata identity when possible.
   • Otherwise record the evidence used for a proposed match: call graph, constants, strings, type shape, relative position, or binary similarity.
   • Keep unmatched and ambiguous items visible.

6. Report temporal bounds honestly.

   • Use changed between A and B for endpoint comparisons.
   • Use first observed in B only when earlier checked builds are listed.
   • Do not equate a security advisory's named component with the full patch boundary without artifact evidence.

7. Preserve the comparison record.

   • Use the version-diff shape from evidence-notes-workflow.
   • Record unchanged observations that constrain interpretation, not only differences.

Output

## Comparison Question
...

## Matched Inputs
| Field | Build A | Build B |
| --- | --- | --- |

## Method
- Tooling:
- Symbols/loaders:
- Normalization:

## Confirmed Differences
- ...

## Confirmed Unchanged Context
- ...

## Ambiguous Matches
- ...

## Temporal Claim
...

## Next Intermediate Build Or Runtime Check
...