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DBC Compare Tool

A cross-platform visual application to compare two versions of CAN DBC database files and generate comparison reports in Excel, HTML, and PDF formats with categorized change sheets.

Runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

GUI Screenshot

Features

  • Visual GUI — browse folders, click Compare, view results
  • CLI mode — scriptable command-line interface for automation
  • Cross-platform — standalone executables for Windows (.exe), macOS (.app), Linux
  • Parses .dbc files (Vector CANdb++ format)
  • Compares all messages and signals side-by-side
  • Covers every DBC attribute (37 columns per side)
  • Multi-format output — Excel (.xlsx), HTML, and PDF per bus
  • 8-sheet Excel with categorized changes:
    • Comparison Summary dashboard
    • New / Removed / Modified Messages
    • New / Removed / Modified Signals
    • Full Comparison (flat side-by-side)
  • HTML report — standalone, responsive, opens in any browser
  • PDF report — print-ready landscape document with all sections
  • Color-coded differences (pink for changed cells, green tint for context)
  • Professional styling with dark header theme and alternating row shading
  • Automatically matches DBC files by bus name across folders

Quick Start

Option 1: GUI Application (recommended)

Run with Python:

pip install openpyxl fpdf2
python3 dbc_compare_gui.py

Or build a standalone executable (no Python needed to run):

Platform Build Command Output
Windows build_windows.bat dist\dbc_compare_gui.exe
macOS ./build.sh dist/dbc_compare_gui.app
Linux ./build.sh dist/dbc_compare_gui

Then just double-click the executable to launch.

Option 2: Command Line (CLI)

pip install openpyxl fpdf2
python3 dbc_compare.py <old_folder> <new_folder>

How to Use (GUI)

  1. Launch the application (double-click the executable or run python3 dbc_compare_gui.py)
  2. Click Browse to select the Old Version folder containing DBC files
  3. Click Browse to select the New Version folder containing DBC files
  4. (Optional) Set a custom Output Folder, or leave empty for auto-naming
  5. Click Compare
  6. View the results summary table showing differences per bus
  7. Click Open Output Folder to access the generated Excel files

How to Use (CLI)

python3 dbc_compare.py <old_folder> <new_folder> [--output <output_folder>]

Example:

python3 dbc_compare.py old_version_folder new_version_folder

Output:

SUMMARY
============================================================
Bus               Total Rows   Differences
--------------- ------------ -------------
CAN_CH1                 5160          1309
CAN_CH2                 2281           643
CAN_CH3                 1988           945
...
TOTAL                  14826          4983

Excel Output Structure (8 sheets per file)

Each generated .xlsx file contains 8 sheets for comprehensive change analysis:

Sheet 1: Comparison Summary

Overview statistics showing total message counts and categorized change counts.

Metric Example
Total Messages in Old Version 256
Total Messages in New Version 257
New Messages 1
Removed Messages 0
Modified Messages 10
New Signals 35
Removed Signals 16
Modified Signals 44

Sheets 2-3: New / Removed Messages

Messages that exist only in the new or old version (8 columns):

Message ID | Message Name | Message Length | Signals | Send Type | Cycle Time | Tx ECU | Rx ECUs

Sheet 4: Modified Messages

Side-by-side comparison of messages with changes (8 fields x 2 versions = 16 columns). Red-highlighted cells indicate which fields changed.

Sheets 5-6: New / Removed Signals

Signals that exist only in the new or old version (12 columns):

Message ID | Message Name | Signal Name | Start Bit | Length | Initial | Minimum | Maximum | Unit | Factor | Value Table | Receivers

Sheet 7: Modified Signals

3 fixed identifier columns + 9 paired old/new attribute columns (21 columns total). Red-highlighted cells indicate which attributes changed.

Sheet 8: Full Comparison

Comprehensive flat side-by-side table with all 37 attributes per side (74 columns total), covering every DBC attribute.

Columns Compared (37 per side)

Message-level (19 columns)

Column DBC Source Description
Id BO_ Message ID (hex)
Name BO_ / SystemMessageLongSymbol Message name
SendType GenMsgSendType Cyclic, IfActive, etc.
CycleTime GenMsgCycleTime Normal cycle time (ms)
CycleTimeFast GenMsgCycleTimeFast Fast cycle time (ms)
CycleTimeActive GenMsgCycleTimeActive Active cycle time (ms)
NrOfRepetition GenMsgNrOfRepetition Repetition count
DelayTime GenMsgDelayTime Delay time (ms)
StartDelayTime GenMsgStartDelayTime Start delay time (ms)
Dlc BO_ Data length code
VFrameFormat VFrameFormat StandardCAN / CAN_FD
CANFD_BRS CANFD_BRS Bit rate switch
Transmitter BO_ Transmitting node
ILSupport GenMsgILSupport Interaction layer support
NmMessage NmMessage Network management flag
DiagRequest DiagRequest Diagnostic request
DiagResponse DiagResponse Diagnostic response
DiagState DiagState Diagnostic state
MsgComment CM_ BO_ Message comment

Signal-level (18 columns)

Column DBC Source Description
Name SG_ / SystemSignalLongSymbol Signal name
Start SG_ Start bit (natural position)
Length SG_ Bit length
Endian SG_ @0/@1 big (Motorola) / little (Intel)
Signed SG_ +/- unsigned / signed
Scale SG_ factor Scale factor
Offset SG_ offset Offset value
Min SG_ min Minimum physical value
Max SG_ max Maximum physical value
Unit SG_ unit Unit string
InvalidValue BA_ InvalidValue Signal invalid value (e.g. "FFh")
StartValue BA_ GenSigStartValue Initial / failsafe value
InactiveValue BA_ GenSigInactiveValue Inactive value
SendType BA_ GenSigSendType Signal send type
TimeoutTime BA_ GenSigTimeoutTime_ALL Timeout time (ms)
ValueDesc VAL_ Value descriptions (e.g. "0: Off, 1: On")
Comment CM_ SG_ Signal comment
Receivers SG_ receivers Receiver node list

Color Scheme in Excel Output

Color Meaning
Light Green (E2EFDA) Row has differences — unchanged cells provide context
Pink (FFC7CE) Specific cell that changed
Light Gray (F2F2F2) Alternating row shading for readability
Dark Blue Header (1F4E79) Column headers with white text
No color Row is identical between versions

Building Standalone Executables

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.7+
  • pip

Windows

build_windows.bat

Produces:

  • dist\dbc_compare_gui.exe — GUI app (double-click)
  • dist\dbc_compare.exe — CLI tool

macOS

chmod +x build.sh
./build.sh

Produces:

  • dist/dbc_compare_gui.app — GUI app (double-click)
  • dist/dbc_compare — CLI tool

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

# Install tkinter if not present
sudo apt-get install python3-tk

chmod +x build.sh
./build.sh

Produces:

  • dist/dbc_compare_gui — GUI app
  • dist/dbc_compare — CLI tool

DBC File Naming Convention

The tool matches old vs new DBC files by bus prefix extracted from filenames:

<number>_<BUS_NAME>_<rest_of_filename>.dbc

Examples:

  • 01_CAN_CH1_Project_v1.0.dbc → bus prefix: 01_CAN_CH1
  • 02_CAN_CH2_Project_v2.0.dbc → bus prefix: 02_CAN_CH2

Files with matching bus prefixes are compared automatically.

Project Structure

dbc-compare-tool/
  dbc_compare_gui.py   # GUI application source
  dbc_compare.py       # Core comparison engine + CLI
  requirements.txt     # Python dependencies
  build.sh             # Build script (macOS/Linux)
  build_windows.bat    # Build script (Windows)
  CHECKSUM.sha256      # Author verification hash
  README.md
  LICENSE

Requirements

  • Python 3.7+
  • openpyxl — Excel file generation
  • fpdf2 — PDF report generation
  • tkinter — GUI (included with Python on Windows/macOS; sudo apt install python3-tk on Linux)
  • PyInstaller — only needed for building standalone executables

License

MIT License

About

Cross-platform tool to compare CAN DBC database files and generate color-coded Excel comparison reports

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Releases 1

v1.0.0 Latest
Feb 10, 2026

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