[HOWTO] compare two Firmwares (Changelog)

---

Here is a simple way to compare two firmwares.

unpack the files and mount the file-systems as root on a Linux system:

mount -o loop /home/gregor/Desktop/CODE_I9000XWJM2/factoryfs.rfs /home/gregor/Desktop/dir1

mount -o loop /home/gregor/Desktop/I9000XWJM5/I9000XWJM5/CODE_I9000XWJM5.tar.md5_FILES/factoryfs.rfs /home/gregor/Desktop/dir2

Compare the two filesystems and generate a list:

rsync -cavn --delete /home/gregor/Desktop/dir1/ /home/gregor/Desktop/dir2/ > diff_JM2_JM5.txt

Examples attached

Wow, way more changes between JM2 and JM5 than you'd think!

this should be stickied or added to the big FAQ

i agree nice tip

Where did you get firmware version JH1? This is a new firmware right?

You can also use this command (change OLD and NEW with the dir1 and dir2 from rsync method):

LANG=C diff -ur OLD NEW | sed -e 's/^Binary files .* and \(.*\) differ$/Changed: \1/' | fgrep -v '.odex'

This shows in an IMHO somewhat nicer way which files were added or removed, and also shows exactly what changed in text files. It also removes odex files from the list, because they will change on every rebuild no matter how, even if the apps didn't change.

See this post for example output.

Originally Posted by AllGamer

this should be stickied or added to the big FAQ

+1

This is awesome.

edit: oops, wrong thread