cmpxat

a command tool to compare all extended attributes of two files, to test which differ, or whether the files are in this respect identical.
by Howard Oakley of https://electiclight.co

Installation:
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All users are recommend to use the Installer package provided. This is now notarized for Mojave and later.

cmpxat uses the Swift standard frameworks. These are installed at a system level in later versions of Mojave (10.14.4 and later) and in Catalina (10.15). Those using earlier versions of Mojave (10.14.3 and before), Sierra or High Sierra may need to download and install Swift Runtime Support for Command Tools from https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1998

Use:
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cmpxat file1 file2

to compare xattrs between file1 and file2.

cmpxat to show usage information

Examples:

cmpxat test1.txt test3.txt
com.apple.metadata:kMDItemCopyright are different
-3
In this case, the two files were identical in all respects except for a single character in that extended attributes.

cmpxat test3.txt test3.txt
always returns an empty string and 0, as a file is always identical to itself.

Howard Oakley
1 September 2020
https://electiclight.co

Version History:
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Version 3:
– Universal binary, for Big Sur support and Apple Silicon

Version 2:
– ported to Swift 5 and Xcode 10.2.1
– added Info.plist, signed, hardened, and Installer package notarized for Mojave & Catalina.

Version 1:
- initial release.
