Topics / Engineering practice
A software baseline gives a change a stable point of comparison.
Name the requirements and revisions you accepted, then make later changes explicit. A baseline is a reference for review, not a promise that everything in it is correct.
Capture the agreement before it moves.
Without a baseline, a team can edit a requirement and its test together, then report that the new implementation matches. The missing question is whether anyone authorized the changed promise. Keep the earlier version and compare what was added, altered or removed.
Illustrative example
A timeout became a success.
The accepted contract says a timed-out payment remains pending until reconciliation. A patch changes the requirement to treat a timeout as success. Comparing only the new code and new tests misses the product decision. Comparing against the accepted requirement makes that decision visible.
Use a requirement snapshot alongside Git.
Proof supports named snapshots of the requirement set. Git still identifies the source revision; retain the relevant evidence, configuration and authorization references alongside it. A requirement baseline alone is not a snapshot of the complete operational environment.
proof baseline create --name release-candidate-1
proof baseline show release-candidate-1
proof baseline diff release-candidate-1 release-candidate-2The final command assumes both named baselines exist. Inspect the differences before accepting the new agreement. Do not update the baseline merely to remove an unexplained failure.
Review the delta, including deletions.
- Identify which behavior changes and why.
- Retain superseded requirements and their decisions.
- Find affected evidence that must be renewed.
- Record who accepted the new baseline and any open exceptions.
The useful outcome is a defensible comparison. The snapshot’s existence does not show that its requirements were validated or its implementation verified.
Try it on your software
Bring a change that altered the contract.
We can show what a baseline comparison retains and which decisions should stay visible.