Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Binary Diff System in Arch

[James Blackwell]

In lists.arch.users, you wrote:
>
>      I'm starting to contemplate work on a project, and I want to use
>  Arch for revision control.  As part of the project I need to be able to
>  store non-human readable data inside the tree. 

Arch can do this. Currently it just stores a whole new copy of the file.

>     I remember a thread a while back (it may have been about a year ago
> now) where people were talking about having some kind of hooks for
> diff/patch so that you could use Xdelta -- or some other delta'ing tool
> -- in Arch.  I was wondering if anyone has been working on this and what
> state this idea is in right now.

The issue comes up from time to time. I haven't heard of anybody working
on this. Most (but not all of the time that this issue comes up people
are dealing with a non-source project (e.g. holding a web site in arch).
In rare cases, people are looking at really abusing arch and attempting
to build some sort of backup system.

>     If this needs works and is still worth doing I might take a stab at
> it soon.

There's been been some curious people. I've heard that the idea looks
simple on the surface and gets more complicated, the deeper you go.

Here's how we do things here. When somebody is considering adding a new
feature to arch, the following steps are performed:

1. Research what people think about the idea (You're doing this right
   now, good job!)
2. Dive into the source code for hours or days to figure out 2 or 3 ways
   to accomplish the task
3. Propose the solution to the list to see if there is any significant
   argument to the solution
4. Work on it for a couple hours, days or weeks
5. Have a couple developers look over it to make sure you did a good job 
   (passes make test, follows the existing coding style, etc)
6. Hold the patch in queue until Tom accepts it.

>
> -- 
> Sam Phillips <address@hidden>                http://www.dasbistro.com
> San Francisco                                                 California
>
>
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>


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James Blackwell      Using I.T. to bring more             570-407-0488
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