CTFDIFF(1) User Commands CTFDIFF(1)

ctfdiff — compare two CTF containers

ctfdiff [-afIloqt] [-F function] [-O object] [-p parent1] [-p parent2] [-T type] file1 file2

The ctfdiff utility identifies differences between the contents of the CTF containers found in file1 and file2.

ctfdiff can find differences between two CTF container's labels, functions, objects, and types. When no options are specified, ctfdiff will only consider functions, and types.

Two labels are the same if they have the same name. Two objects are the same if they have the same name and the type of the object is the same. Two functions are considered the same if they have the same name, the same return type, the same number of arguments, and the types of their arguments are the same.

Two types are considered the same if they have the same name, they represent the same kind of thing, and the contents of the type are the same. This varies for each specific kind, for example, two structs are the same if they have the same members whose types, offsets, and names are all the same. For more information on the specifics for what we look at for each kind of type, and the kinds themselves, see the information we use to encode them in ctf(5). If the option -I is specified, then the names of basic integer types are ignored. For an example of where this makes sense, see Example 4.

If the CTF container found inside of either file1 or file2 has been uniquified (see ctf(5) for more on uniquification), then the parent CTF container is also required for the diff to complete.

The following options are supported:

Diff labels, types, objects, and functions.
Diff function type argument information.
function
When diffing functions, only consider the function function. This option requires that the option -f be specified and can be repeated multiple times.
Ignore the names of integral types. This option is useful when comparing types between two CTF containers that have different programming models. In this case, when comparing integers, the name of the type is not considered. This means that the ILP32 type long which is a 32-bit wide signed integer is the same as the LP64 type int which is a 32-bit wide signed integer, even though they have different names.
Diff the labels contained inside the CTF containers.
Diff type information for objects.
object
When diffing type information for objects, only compare if the object is name . This option requires -o to be specified and can be repeated multiple times.
parent1
Specifies the path of file that is the parent of the CTF container inside of file1 is . This option is required if file1 has been uniquified. For more information on uniquification, see ctf(5).
parent2
Specifies the path of file that is the parent of the CTF container inside of file2 is . This option is required if file1 has been uniquified. For more information on uniquification, see ctf(5).
Enables quiet mode. Standard output from the diff will not be emitted. However, diagnostics messages will still be emitted to standard error.
Diff the type information sections in the CTF containers.
type
When diffing the types section, only consider it if the type is name type. Types specified here do not impact the diffing of objects or functions. Even with -T specified, other types will be diffed as necessary for the evaluation of the named types; however, the results of those intermediate differences will not impact the results of ctfdiff, only named types are considered when evaluating the exit status of ctfdiff.

Execution completed successfully, no differences were detected between file1 and file2.
Execution completed successfully, but differences were detected between file1 and file2.
Invalid command line options were specified.
A fatal error occurred.

Example 1 Diffing Two CTF Containers

The following example compares two CTF containers using the default set of comparisons: objects, functions, and types.

$ ctfdiff /usr/lib/libc.so.1 /usr/lib/libdtrace.so.1
ctf container /usr/lib/libc.so.1 type 37 is different
ctf container /usr/lib/libc.so.1 type 38 is different
ctf container /usr/lib/libc.so.1 type 39 is different
ctf container /usr/lib/libc.so.1 type 40 is different
ctf container /usr/lib/libc.so.1 type 41 is different
ctf container /usr/lib/libc.so.1 type 42 is different
ctf container /usr/lib/libc.so.1 type 43 is different
ctf container /usr/lib/libc.so.1 type 47 is different
ctf container /usr/lib/libc.so.1 type 48 is different
ctf container /usr/lib/libc.so.1 type 49 is different
...
Example 2 Diffing Types Between Two CTF Containers with Parents

The following example compares two CTF containers and that have been uniquified against the same container .

$ ctfdiff -t -p /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/amd64/genunix \
    -P /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/amd64/genunix \
    /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/drv/amd64/vnd  \
    /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/drv/amd64/overlay
ctf container /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/drv/amd64/vnd type 32769 is different
ctf container /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/drv/amd64/vnd type 32770 is different
ctf container /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/drv/amd64/vnd type 32771 is different
ctf container /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/drv/amd64/vnd type 32772 is different
ctf container /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/drv/amd64/vnd type 32774 is different
ctf container /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/drv/amd64/vnd type 32775 is different
ctf container /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/drv/amd64/vnd type 32776 is different
ctf container /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/drv/amd64/vnd type 32777 is different
ctf container /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/drv/amd64/vnd type 32778 is different
ctf container /ws/rm/zlan/proto/kernel/drv/amd64/vnd type 32779 is different
...

Example 3 Diffing a Specific Function in Two CTF Containers

This example shows us looking for differences in the function in two different version of the library .

$ ctfdiff -f -F libzfs_core_init /usr/lib/libzfs_core.so.1 \
    /ws/rm/ctf/proto/usr/lib/libzfs_core.so.1
$ echo $?

Example 4 Diffing Types to Find Differences Between Different Data Models.

This example looks for differences between structures used in an ioctl that the kernel wants to be bitness neutral by comparing a 32-bit and 64-bit library that consumes it. In this example, we'll use the library and the types , , , , and .

$ ctfdiff -t -I -T vnd_ioc_attach_t  -T vnd_ioc_link_t  \
    -T vnd_ioc_unlink_t -T vnd_ioc_buf_t  -T vnd_ioc_info_t \
    i386/libvnd.so.1 amd64/libvnd.so.1
$ echo $?
0

The command syntax is . The output format is .

ctfdump(1), diff(1), ctf(5)

December 2, 2023 OmniOS