Patent ID: 8630981

Claim:
A method for differencing binary installation packages comprising: populating a plurality of data structures using information from different builds of a binary installation package, wherein populating the plurality of data structures comprises opening the different builds of the binary installation package, wherein at least one of the data structures comprises an entity key and a plurality of attributes; comparing, using a computer processor, information in the plurality of data structures, wherein comparing information in the plurality of data structures comprises: determining whether an entity key has been at least one of added or deleted between the different builds of the binary installation package; matching an entity key for an entity; and comparing the plurality of attributes of the entity; generating a result of the comparison; presenting the generated result to an operator, wherein the result comprises at least one difference between the different builds of the binary installation package; and merging the at least one difference, wherein merging the at least one difference comprises receiving from the operator at least one instruction to choose a desired value of an attribute.