Why Line-by-Line JSON Diffing Fails
RFC 8259 defines JSON objects as unordered collections of zero or more name/value pairs. Standard text-line diffing treats key order differences and indentation whitespace as destructive changes, producing massive false-positive churn.
Understanding RFC 6902 JSON Patch
RFC 6902 defines a JSON document structure for expressing a sequence of operations to apply to a target JSON document. Commonly used in HTTP PATCH methods and Kubernetes resource updates.