Re: CVS corrupts binary files ...

[Paul Sander]

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>Adrian Constantin writes:
>> 
>> Or maybe projects for Unix/Linux platforms do not
>> usualy have binary files, but I don't really think so...

>CVS is a *source* control system; source files are rarely binary.

I disagree with this statement.  Source files are any files that cannot
be reproduced automatically.  That is, changes must be made to them
manually using some editor, and that editor need not be the likes of
vi or emacs.  MS Word (or Frame Maker) documents, images of various
formats, and documents from various design tools (e.g. GUI builders)
are common examples.

>It
>does support them as an afterthought, but that's not what it was
>designed to do.

While this may be true, it turns out that CVS' design can accomodate
such files.  Support can be added with a relatively small amount of
effort, which was demonstrated circa Sept. 18, 2001 in this forum in
the form of a patch of the then-current release.  All that's needed is
a pluggable diff/merge tool based on the type of data.

And before someone rehashes the old "you can't replace diff without
breaking RCS" argument, remember that I'm not recommending replacing
the algorithm that computes the deltas.  This is strictly a UI thing
in the top layer that is well outside the back-end design.

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