"Invalid" Debian .changes encoding prevents further comparisons (was: 'option to force file type on the compared files?')

Encountered an odd issue where a typo in the "debian-history" package changelog caused the .changes file to not be recognized as a .changes file. which is fixed in git: ddp-team/project-history@e7e575e4

For tests.reproducible-builds.org tests of debian packages, since we know we're handing it two files that should be .changes files, would it make sense to have a way to force comparison to compare the files as if they're .changes files? obviously, this would only make sense for the top-level file comparison (e.g. the files passed on the commandline).

Not sure what all the odd unintended side-effects might be to forcing a specific comparator...