Determine file type (binary or text)

[Peter Hansen]

You should note that the question of when to use -kb is not simply based
on the contents of the file, but on whether you want CVS/RCS to try to
merge conflicting versions.

For example, I recently added some files containing pickled objects
(used as test data sets for a regression test) to the CVS repository for
my project. Although the pickle files are in fact all printable text, a
CVS/RCS merge of two valid pickle files won't yield a valid pickle file.
Therefore, I used -kb to ensure that the developer would always be
forced to choose a version in the event of a version conflict.

Exactly. We had the same issue with the project files for the Codewright
text editor. They are sort of like Windows .INI files, but merging such
files leads to complete disaster, including inability to run Codewright
until the files are manually fixed or removed!

-Peter

 

[JanC]

P.S. Sami, it's very bad form to "make up" an e-mail address, such as
<[email protected]>. I'm sure the owners of the none.net domain would agree.

Very true.

Can't you provide a real address?

Some non-real addresses are allowed/harmless too:
- everything ending with the .invalid TLD
e.g.: (e-mail address removed)
- (e-mail address removed) (the owner of the domain gave his permission)