diff two rpms? -- linux

Question

Some unknown changes were made to my baseline (java/ C++) and installed in a new rpm. I would like a way to compare the content of this rpm with an old one to see the changes made. Is this possible?

If there is no easy way to do this, is there a way to get a content list of rpm file names within it organized by date?

Answer 1

Try pkgdiff to visualize differences between RPM packages:

pkgdiff PKG-0.rpm PKG-1.rpm

If you compare SRC.RPM then the tool will extract and compare the internal tarball too (unless the -skip-subarchives option is defined).

Answer 2

To rigorously compare two rpm files (let's call them one.rpm and another.rpm), you'll want to check the digests of the constituent files as well as check the pre- and post-[un]install scripts (because these scripts might modify the system state):

$ diff <(rpm -q --dump --scripts -p one.rpm) <(rpm -q --dump --scripts -p another.rpm)

You might also want to compare the signatories (if there are any):

$ diff <(rpm -q --qf '%{SIGPGP:pgpsig}\n%{SIGPGP:armor}\n' -p one.rpm) <(rpm -q --qf '%{SIGPGP:pgpsig}\n%{SIGPGP:armor}\n' -p another.rpm)

(or, if you're especially pedantic:

$ diff <(rpm -q --qf '%{DSAHEADER:pgpsig}\n%{DSAHEADER:armor}\n%{RSAHEADER:pgpsig}\n%{DSAHEADER:armor}\n%{SIGGPG:pgpsig}\n%{SIGGPG:armor}\n%{SIGPGP:pgpsig}\n%{SIGPGP:armor}\n' -p one.rpm) <(rpm -q --qf '%{DSAHEADER:pgpsig}\n%{DSAHEADER:armor}\n%{RSAHEADER:pgpsig}\n%{DSAHEADER:armor}\n%{SIGGPG:pgpsig}\n%{SIGGPG:armor}\n%{SIGPGP:pgpsig}\n%{SIGPGP:armor}\n' -p another.rpm)
)