DiffCustomToolOutput
You can run existing tools or scripts to help you identify the differences between the two app bundles.
First select the files to compare. The selected line must have two files to be compared.
Next press SHIFT+T to show the analyzer dialog.
Type the name of the tool (e.g. otool, nm, strings) inside
Tool Executable and the arguments inside Arguments.
By default the output is sorted alphabetically. You can disable
this by unchecking the Sort checkbox.
Select (or click) on Open... to run the tool, on both files,
then run diff -u on their respective output. The application
associated with .diff will be opened with the result.
Alternatively you can select Gist... which will also run the
tool and then create a private gist and open your default web
browser to display it.
| File Type | Tool | Arguments | Sorted | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MachO executable | otool |
-L {file} |
yes | List linked libraries and frameworks |
| MachO / ELF executable | nm |
-g {file} |
yes | List global (exported) symbols |
| .net assemblies | cilout |
assembly {file} references |
no | List References |
| .net assemblies | cilout |
assembly {file} definitions |
no | List Definitions |
| .net assemblies | ilspycmd |
{file} |
no | Decompile (to C#) .net assemblies |
| .net assemblies | ilspycmd |
-il {file} |
no | Disassemble .net assemblies |
| Text | cat |
{file} |
no | Display the contents of text file |
.plist (binary) |
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy |
-c print {file} |
no | Display the contents of binary plist |
| Any Binary | strings |
{file} |
yes | List strings found inside the file |
| Any Binary | xxd |
{file} |
no | Display the contents of binary file |
Notes:
-
{file}is a placeholder and will be replaced by the selected file's name. - Not every tool is available on all platforms / operating systems. Some might be installed by default, some can be added (first or third party), some won't be available or named differently.
- Due to how
diffworks large files with a lot of changes might be difficult to read - and likely not helpful at all. - Custom tools or scripts can be useful to reduce the amount of data to diff, IOW avoid GIGO.
The macOS version of strings does not support --encoding option and
will miss the unicode UTF-16 encoded strings.
You can use brew install binutils to get the GNU version of the
strings tool. To avoid conflicting with the macOS version, it will
be made available as /opt/homebrew/opt/binutils/bin/strings.
This is important for .net assemblies since they uses 16bits unicode
strings. Using --encoding b will show the unicode strings.