NAME

       sediff - SELinux policy difference tool

SYNOPSIS

       sediff [OPTIONS] [EXPRESSION] ORIGINAL_POLICY ; MODIFIED_POLICY

DESCRIPTION

       sediff allows the user to inspect the semantic differences between two SELinux policies.

POLICY

       sediff supports loading SELinux policies in one of four formats.

       source A  single  text file containing policy source for versions 12 through 21. This file
              is usually named policy.conf.

       binary A single file containing a monolithic kernel binary policy for versions 15  through
              21. This file is usually named by version - for example, policy.20.

       modular
              A  list  of  policy  packages  each  containing a loadable policy module. The first
              module listed must be a base module.

       policy list
              A single text file containing all the information needed to load a policy,  usually
              exported by SETools graphical utilities.

       Policies  do  not  need  to be the same format. If not provided sediff will print an error
       message and exit.

EXPRESSIONS

       The user may specify an expression listing the policy elements to differentiate.   If  not
       provided, all supported policy elements sans neverallows are examined.

       -c, --class
              Find  differences  in  permissions assigned to object classes and common permission
              sets.

       --level
              Find differences in categories authorized for MLS levels.

       --category
              Find differences in category definitions.

       -t, --type
              Find differences in attributes associated with types.

       -a, --attribute
              Find differences in types assigned to attributes.

       -r, --role
              Find differences in types authorized for roles.

       -u, --user
              Find differences in roles authorized for users.

       -b, --bool
              Find differences in the default values of booleans.

       -A, --allow
              Find differences in allow rules.

       --auditallow
              Find differences in auditallow rules.

       --dontaudit
              Find differences in dontaudit rules.

       --neverallow
              Find differences in neverallow rules.

       --type_trans
              Find differences in type_transition rules.

       --type_member
              Find differences in type_member rules.

       --type_change
              Find differences in type_change rules.

       --role_trans
              Find differences in  role_transition  rules.   This  includes  differences  in  the
              default role.

       --role_allow
              Find differences in role allow rules.

       --range_trans
              Find  differences  in  range_transition  rules.   This  includes differences in the
              target MLS range.

OPTIONS

       -q, --quiet
              If there are no differences for elements of a given kind,  suppress  status  output
              for that kind of element.

       --stats
              Print difference statistics only.

       -h, --help
              Print help information and exit.

       -V, --version
              Print version information and exit.

DIFFERENCES

       sediff categorizes differences in policy elements into one of three forms.

              added  The element exists only in the modified policy.

              removed
                     The element exists only in the original policy.

              modified
                     The  element  exists  in both policies but its semantic meaning has changed.
                     For example, a class is modified if one or more  permissions  are  added  or
                     removed.

       For all rules with types as their source or target, two additional forms of difference are
       recognized.  This helps distinguish differences due to new types from differences in rules
       for existing types.

              added, new type
                     The rule exists only in the modified policy; furthermore, one or more of the
                     types in the rule do not exist in the original policy.

              removed, missing type
                     The rule exists only in the original policy; furthermore, one or more of the
                     types in the rule do not exist in the modified policy.

NOTE

       Most  shells  interpret  the semicolon as a metacharacter, thus requiring a backslash like
       so: sediff original.policy \; modified.policy

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by Jeremy A. Mowery <jmowery@tresys.com>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright(C) 2004-2007 Tresys Technology, LLC

BUGS

       Please report bugs via an email to setools-bugs@tresys.com.

SEE ALSO

       sediffx(1)

                                                                                        sediff(1)