diff --git a/.github/scripts/Publish-BootstrapScripts.ps1 b/.github/scripts/Publish-BootstrapScripts.ps1
index eb421f94..aa2a0e4a 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/Publish-BootstrapScripts.ps1
+++ b/.github/scripts/Publish-BootstrapScripts.ps1
@@ -125,6 +125,23 @@ function Get-BootstrapScriptVersion {
     throw "Could not parse ScriptVersion from $Origin"
 }
 
+# What the script actually DOES, with comments and layout removed: the PowerShell token
+# stream minus comments, newlines and line continuations. Lets the version-bump guard tell
+# a behaviour change (must be versioned -- consumers act on the version) apart from a
+# comment fix or reflow (nobody needs to know). Tokenising rather than regex-stripping
+# keeps '#' inside strings from being mistaken for a comment.
+function Get-CodeFingerprint {
+    param([string]$Text, [string]$Origin)
+    $tokens = $null
+    $errors = $null
+    [System.Management.Automation.Language.Parser]::ParseInput($Text, [ref]$tokens, [ref]$errors) | Out-Null
+    if ($errors -and $errors.Count -gt 0) {
+        throw "Parse error in ${Origin}: $($errors[0])"
+    }
+    $ignored = @('Comment', 'NewLine', 'LineContinuation', 'EndOfInput')
+    return (($tokens | Where-Object { $ignored -notcontains $_.Kind.ToString() } | ForEach-Object { $_.Text }) -join "`n")
+}
+
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. source
 $sourceContent = Get-Content $BootstrapSource -Raw
 $sourceBytes   = Get-PublishBytes $sourceContent
@@ -150,14 +167,21 @@ if ($null -eq $publishedBytes) {
 } elseif ((Get-Sha256 $publishedBytes) -eq (Get-Sha256 $sourceBytes)) {
     Write-Host 'Published bootstrap is already byte-identical to the source'
 } else {
-    $publishedVersion = Get-BootstrapScriptVersion -Content ([System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString($publishedBytes)) -Origin "$AliasUrl/$BootstrapBlob"
-    if ($publishedVersion -eq $scriptVersion) {
-        throw ("Version-bump guard: $BootstrapBlob changed but ScriptVersion is still $scriptVersion. " +
+    $publishedText    = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString($publishedBytes)
+    $publishedVersion = Get-BootstrapScriptVersion -Content $publishedText -Origin "$AliasUrl/$BootstrapBlob"
+
+    if ($publishedVersion -ne $scriptVersion) {
+        Write-Host "Version bump: $publishedVersion -> $scriptVersion"
+    } elseif ((Get-CodeFingerprint -Text $publishedText -Origin "$AliasUrl/$BootstrapBlob") -eq
+              (Get-CodeFingerprint -Text $sourceContent -Origin $BootstrapSource)) {
+        # Comments, typos in comments, reflow -- nothing a consumer of the version can act on.
+        Write-Host "::warning::$BootstrapBlob changed in comments or formatting only; publishing under the unchanged version $scriptVersion."
+    } else {
+        throw ("Version-bump guard: $BootstrapBlob changed behaviour but ScriptVersion is still $scriptVersion. " +
                "Bump it in $BootstrapSource -- the docs badge, version.json.bootstrapVersion and the " +
-               'portal outdated-script hint all read that value and would keep reporting a version ' +
-               'that no longer matches what customers download.')
+               'portal outdated-script hint all read that value, and customers decide from it whether ' +
+               'to re-upload their Intune copy. Comment-only and formatting changes do not need a bump.')
     }
-    Write-Host "Version bump: $publishedVersion -> $scriptVersion"
 }
 
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. upload
diff --git a/docs/log.md b/docs/log.md
index b832c904..e798fc5f 100644
--- a/docs/log.md
+++ b/docs/log.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 ## 2026-08-19
 
-* **New**: `script-publishing.md` — the customer script publishing chain. `.github/scripts/Publish-BootstrapScripts.ps1` becomes the single owner (dev render, version-bump guard, uploads, version oracles, alias verification), called both by the new `publish-scripts.yml` (push to `main` on `scripts/Bootstrap/**` and `scripts/CustomerSetup/**`) and by the `publish_as_stable` branch of `build-agent.yml`. Script publishing no longer waits for an agent release. Blobs are published in a deterministic CRLF/UTF-8-no-BOM form so byte comparisons do not depend on the checkout; the Pester + ASCII gates move into the reusable `bootstrap-script-gates.yml` and block the upload; `AdminConfiguration.LatestBootstrapV2ScriptVersion` now has exactly one writer.
+* **New**: `script-publishing.md` — the customer script publishing chain. `.github/scripts/Publish-BootstrapScripts.ps1` becomes the single owner (dev render, version-bump guard, uploads, version oracles, alias verification), called both by the new `publish-scripts.yml` (push to `main` on `scripts/Bootstrap/**` and `scripts/CustomerSetup/**`) and by the `publish_as_stable` branch of `build-agent.yml`. Script publishing no longer waits for an agent release. Blobs are published in a deterministic CRLF/UTF-8-no-BOM form so byte comparisons do not depend on the checkout; the Pester + ASCII gates move into the reusable `bootstrap-script-gates.yml` and block the upload; `AdminConfiguration.LatestBootstrapV2ScriptVersion` now has exactly one writer. The version-bump guard compares a code fingerprint (PowerShell token stream without comments, newlines and line continuations), so only behaviour changes require a `$ScriptVersion` bump — comment and formatting changes publish with a warning.
 
 ## 2026-08-18
 
diff --git a/docs/script-publishing.md b/docs/script-publishing.md
index 007c8c24..b30c87a5 100644
--- a/docs/script-publishing.md
+++ b/docs/script-publishing.md
@@ -55,8 +55,9 @@ interleave with a release writing the agent fields.
 2. **Dev render** — literal substitution of the two `$AgentDownloadUrl` / `$VersionJsonName`
    defaults. A missing anchor literal is a hard failure: a silently un-substituted dev script
    would point the dev fleet at the stable agent.
-3. **Version-bump guard** — if the published bootstrap differs from the source but carries the
-   same `$ScriptVersion`, the run aborts. See [Version oracles](#version-oracles).
+3. **Version-bump guard** — if the published bootstrap changed *behaviour* under an unchanged
+   `$ScriptVersion`, the run aborts. Comment and formatting changes publish with a warning.
+   See [Version oracles](#version-oracles).
 4. **Upload** every blob with `Cache-Control: no-cache` (they all rotate in place), mirrored
    fail-soft to the legacy storage account.
 5. **Reconcile the version oracles.**
@@ -92,8 +93,16 @@ Three places state the bootstrap script version, and all three are derived from
   script stdout by `utils/bootstrapVersion.ts`.
 
 The version-bump guard exists because those three would otherwise keep asserting a version
-that no longer matches what customers download: changed content under an unchanged version is
-invisible to every consumer.
+that no longer matches what customers download: a behaviour change under an unchanged version
+is invisible to every consumer, and customers decide from that version whether to re-upload
+their Intune copy.
+
+"Changed" means changed **behaviour**, matching what the source file's own comment on
+`$ScriptVersion` already asks for ("bump on meaningful changes"). The guard compares a code
+fingerprint — the PowerShell token stream with comments, newlines and line continuations
+removed — so comment fixes, typo corrections in comments and reflow publish with a
+`::warning::` instead of failing. Tokenising rather than regex-stripping keeps a `#` inside a
+string literal from being mistaken for a comment.
 
 # Gates