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ZiFile Documentation

Reproducible Windows builds

ZiFile distinguishes “can be built again” from byte-for-byte identical output. rust-toolchain.toml pins Rust 1.93.0. Windows Release uses one Cargo job, MSVC /Brepro, committed Cargo.lock, and --locked. The double-build script also uses CARGO_ENCODED_RUSTFLAGS to map each isolated CARGO_TARGET_DIR to Z:\zifile-target with --remap-path-prefix, preventing generated Rust sources from embedding the distinct build-a and build-b roots in panic locations.

Local verification

Section titled “Local verification”
Terminal window
./tests/reproducibility/windows-build.ps1 -Architecture x64

Two isolated target directories build all Release features and compare zifile-desktop.exe, zifile-desktop-accessible.exe, zifile.exe, zifile-worker.exe, and zifile_shell.dll. target/reproducibility-x64.json records source state, compiler, target, commands, and hashes. Schema v2 records the first difference and bounded 64-byte hex context globally and for every differing PE component, plus ranges and hashes for headers, sections, and overlay. Any mismatch fails; temporary build directories are safely removed.

Existing PE files can be compared without rebuilding:

Terminal window
./tests/reproducibility/windows-build.ps1 `
  -ComparePeFirstPath first\zifile-desktop.exe `
  -ComparePeSecondPath second\zifile-desktop.exe

Use -Architecture arm64 for ARM64. Monthly, manual, and build-affecting PR runs retain JSON evidence for 30 days.

Current evidence and boundary

Section titled “Current evidence and boundary”

Cloud run 32813453959 on Rust 1.93.0 produced 4/5 identical PE files on both x64 and ARM64. Schema-v2 run 32822543635 then identified the same cause on both architectures: the first .rdata difference was the build-a versus build-b isolated target path embedded in generated glutin_wgl_sys bindings. Checked code/data/resource sections otherwise matched; the header changed because /Brepro derives its value from differing content. After path remapping, run 32826187552 produced reproducible=true and 5/5 matching PE files on both x64 and ARM64, completing the same-Runner/source/toolchain raw-PE gate.

This gate covers raw PE bytes on one Windows Runner, source revision, and locked toolchain. Signatures and MSIX container metadata require separate double-package checks, and cross-machine/MSVC-version reproducibility remains unproven. A 4/5 result must never be described as fully reproducible.