Re: Correct options for export

[Greg A. Woods]

[ On Thursday, July 12, 2001 at 21:52:42 (+0200), Ingolf Steinbach wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: Correct options for export
>
> Greg, I think this is not exactly the right comparison (I hope, my doctor
> would not suggest that I may bang my head on the wall if I want to and that
> I then would feel only a bit less comfortable, as the CVS manual does --
> applied to binary files). See e.g. chapter 9: It first lists the benefits
> in case of text files and then reads "However, if you are willing to give up 
> a few of these abilities, CVS can store binary files." (It does not say: if
> you want to open a major can of worms, ...)

Given the frequency of occurance of this misunderstanding in CVS users,
perhaps it should say that.....

The problem is that you can't turn off the features in CVS that are hard
(impossible) to use once you've added binary files to a repository.  You
also can't even leave easy and obvious hints behind for future users
unless you have good external project-wide lore and procedures that can
carry across personnel changes.

This means that by definition you are in fact opening a vast can of
hungry worms with sharp teeth for any future users of your repository
whenever you introduce binary files to your CVS repository.

> > Don't put binary files in CVS if you don't want problems with them!
> 
> Yes, I know that CVS is not the ideal tool for binary files. But the binary
> files are few and small in the repository, and I need not be able to display
> the differences between two revisions of a binary file. So neither space,
> nor merging ability, nor ... are a problem here -- why not use CVS?

No no no!  DO NOT EVER PUT BINARY FILES IN CVS if you don't want future
problems with them and with your repository!!!!!

(unless maybe iff you're only doing third-party maintenance in a
vendor-branched module....)

> Are there situations in which a file is added with -kb to a repository
> other than because it is a binary file?

I've never used '-kb', but I have set a sticky '-ko' option on occasion
in vendor-branched modules (and only in vendor-branched modules on
vendor-originated files, and I'm very Very VERY careful to never ever
make local changes to those files).  Theory is that '-ko' and '-kb' have
identical behaviour on Unix though....

> Are there situations in which one wants to have such files exported
> with a different keyword expansion?

Iff you have binary files, then obviously....

> Would it really be such a problem if the -k option were only applied to
> non-binary files during export / checkout / ...?

If the user says to use "-k" on the command line then that option should
always apply to all files.  The command line must override.

However if you were to have '-kv' as the default for "cvs export" then a
sticky '-ko' or '-kb' in the repository could override that default....

-- 
                                                        Greg A. Woods

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