Do you trust the "indent" program?

[Alvin "the Chipmunk" Sylvain]

In article <5971 at stpstn.UUCP> lerman at stpstn.UUCP (Ken Lerman) writes:
> In article <256 at ptcburp.ptcbu.oz.au> rick at ptcburp.ptcbu.oz.au (Rick Stevenson) writes:
> .....
> .Why don't you run a copy of your src files through indent, recompile,
> .and compare new object files with the old versions? The proof of the
> .pudding...
> 
> I've never been able to compare object successfully.  Object files
> tend to have imbedded line numbers, version numbers, etc. which cause
> them to compare differently.  Is there a utility out there which will
> enable me to determine if the code and data parts of an executable or
> object file are the same?

You should be able to run 'strip' on the object files to remove any
extraneous garbage, including information for debuggers.  Although I
like someone's suggestion of compiling to assembly source with the -S
option much better.  As he pointed out, this not only identifies a
difference, it indicates where it is as well.  (Or at least gives you an
idea, depending on how transmorgrified it becomes with optimization.)
--
asylvain at felix.UUCP (Alvin "the Chipmunk" Sylvain)
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