Re: CVS corrupts binary files ...

[Paul Sander]

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>* On Sat, Jun 05, 2004 at 08:38:15PM -0700 Gianni Mariani wrote:
>*
>> Peter Connolly wrote:
>> 
>> >>Too dificult to set up, I think Shouldn't cvs have a list of binary
>> >>file types preinstalled in the cvswrappers ?
>> >
>> >I agree, it should.
>> >
>> I second that !  I did 3 years ago.
>> 
>> http://www.mail-archive.com/address@hidden/msg09098.html

>I tend to disagree: It should not!

>Which extensions are binary files? Is .au a binary file? I know .au as
>(Sun?) audio file, but I've also seen a project where .au had the
>meaning of "additional user" or something like that, and was a text
>file.

>The same could be true for other extensions. What about .doc? .doc is
>not necessarily a Word file, especially not on old project. So, my
>conclusion is: Only the user is aware what type each file is. Checking
>in a text file with -kb (from a Windows machine) is something which many
>administrators do not like, either.

>If you have so much fear about binary files, why don't you put * -kb
>into your cvswrappers, and declare any text file explicitly? This way,
>you cannot miss the binary files.

It's true that a general purpose file type identifier is not possible,
it is possible to get arbitrarily close to 100% accuracy on a per-shop
basis.  Also, relying on file extensions alone is notoriously inaccurate.
A mechanism like the Unix file(1) command that examines a file's content
is much better.  And then the configuration of it really needs to be in
the CVS admin's face from the start.

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