Values from sequences (e.g. postgres' serial datatype) can (validly) vary and will often thwart the otherwise so attractively simple dump & diff approach.

And IMHO tobyink is right: without index, order is not garantueed, and I'd consider it unwise to rely on order in the database on the basis of the order of the source material.

Just a general remark: the OP doesn't give much detail, and doesn't mention what system he works with, but in case the system is PostgreSQL: it has a md5() function which can be handy for directly comparing data (and searching for differences via SQL).

In reply to Re^4: Testing database updates. by erix
in thread Testing database updates. by chrestomanci

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