Compare compiled .NET assemblies?

Question

Are there any good programs to compare with .NET assemblies?

For example, I have HelloWorld.dll (1.0.0.0) and HelloWorld.dll (2.0.0.0) and I want to compare the differences, how can I do this?

I know that I can use .NET Reflector and use the Assembly Diff plugin. Are there any other good tools for this?

Answer 1

Comparison Methods .NET Assemblies Offer

Commercial:

• Ndepend

Free:

• Justassssembly
• Bitdefer
• Diff reflector add-in (which you already discovered)

Answer 2

Two ways.

You can use ILDASM and classify classic instruments.

Or you can use NDepends, which will cost for this feature.

[Piece to C # bloaters ..]

Answer 3

I just had to compare two versions of the same DLL having the same version (I needed to implement a small fix and deploy the DLL in production, but I wanted to make sure that no other changes occurred in the code), Ideally, I would like so that the Assemby Diff add-in shows me the difference, but it doesn't work (she thinks I'm comparing the DLL with myself). So here is what I did:

• Two folders have been created for storing disassembled source files.
• Reflector Export is used (from the context menu) to generate source files from each DLL in the folders created in the previous step.
• Used the free DiffMerge tool to compare two directories; the tools showed me the changed files and the difference.

This is a little shreds, but it seems to work. I would like the Diff add-in to be handled.

UPDATE: The latest version of the Diff add-in for the assembly should fix the problem of comparing two versions of the same assembly. Give it a try.

Answer 4

The NDepend tool offers many features for handling .NET code diff. Disclaimer: I am one of the developers of this tool.

The Change Search panel is used to view assembly code. Note:

• You can connect to NDepend with any code comparison tool used in the menu. Compare the older and newer version of the source file.
• If you do not have source code, only source assemblies, there is the option Comparison of the older and newer versions, disassembled with Reflector

Please also note that the screenshot creates a CQLinq code to view diff.

from m in Application.Methods where m.CodeWasChanged() select new { m, m.NbLinesOfCode } 

By default, there are many other default queries and rules that allow you to browse diff diff code in a smart way.

• Types that were previously 100% covered, but no more
• Breaking Changes API: Methods
• Avoid making complex methods even more complex.
• Avoid Reducing Code Testing Coverage
• Now all types added or reorganized must respect the basic principles of quality
• Avoid converting immutable to mutable
• Heuristics for finding types moving from one namespace or assembly to another

Answer 5

Another LibCheck option from Microsoft.

A pretty old console tool to get the public diff API. I could not work without debugging and redirecting to a newer version of .net. However, this gave me very clear results, and I'm going to use it later.

Here is an article with screenshots.

Answer 6

Java has a nice option: Semantic Diff utilities