About Comparing Schema

You can compare two schemas to determine the differences between them.

Use schema comparison for these purposes:

  • Different versions of the same schema to manage changes to the schema.
  • Two schemas from different databases so you can merge the schemas (for example, merge a checkout system with a production system).

Use these steps to compare schema:

  1. Create a baseline sample of one schema using XML export. See Creating a Baseline.
  2. Analyze the differences between the baseline sample and the other schema (or a later version of the same schema) using the compare command. You specify the administrative types (attributes, relationships, and so on) and a name pattern (for example, all attributes beginning with "Supplier") to compare. Each compare command outputs a single log file that contains a report. The report lists the administrative objects in the baseline export file that have been added, deleted, and modified. See Comparing a Schema with the Baseline.

If your goal is to merge the two schemas by making the necessary changes to one of the schemas (sometimes called "applying a delta"), you can make the changes manually or write an MQL script file that applies the changes to the target schema.