Binary files are not a problem for CVS if properly attributed ('-kb'). I believe that the upcoming release of Office has an XML-derived file format that should eliminate the problem of Word documents needing non-text attribution in CVS.
Diffs on binary files are an issue regardless of your version control system. Binary files that contain original content (i.e., not generated by the build process) are as important as any other source content and should be treated as such. -- Rick Genter Sr. Software Engineer Silverlink Communications <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (781) 272-3080 x242 This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may only be used by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately. -----Original Message----- From: Gagneet Singh [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 11:52 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [cvsgui] can we commit word files in WinCVS with japanese character names??? Hi! I agree with your reasoning. We are also following the same practice. But, the problem that arises is that the developers then try to DIFF the binary files also and end up with a lot of garbage in their laps. Also, I have had an instance where the MS Word document got corrupted and we had to take the document from our local systems/backups and put them back in. This might be an isolated case, but binaries in the form of MS Word do present a problem for CVS at present. It has always been a good practice to put all tools and documents in CVS. This is what we also follow. All our development tools are in the repository and the new developers who join do not have to run around looking for binaries and tools to test out a bug fix they might have carried out in the source. But, the only difference being that we have stopped the DIFF's of the MS Word documents. Also, the binaries created from the source are not in CVS. As these can be constructed from the source itself. Thus, we tag the source at each release and if we want to check out a particular defect of a previous version we just check out the sources and build it. This is a safer and much better way than to keep redundant binaries in CVS. We have not been having problem with re-building the binary till date. This might be due to the reason that we do not upgrade our development environment with each new feature that is being offered, but will take Bo's advice and start putting the binaries in CVS. As someone might just plan to upgrade all the development IDE's sometime in the future.. :-) As for the binary being too big, yes that is a strain on the server resources, but I think that can be managed by increasing the RAM and HDD of the server to compensate for the extra safety provided by putting the binaries as they were at a particular release in CVS. Also, CVS and in a sense WinCVS has a compression feature for getting the CVS files over the network. This can be enabled in WinCVS by the TCP/IP compression ratio. I am not too sure about what CVS does at its end. But, if I remember clearly, I have read someplace that it also compresses the files before sending them to the client. Thank You for the advice. Gagneet -----Original Message----- From: Bo Berglund [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, 19 November, 2003 22:50 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [cvsgui] can we commit word files in WinCVS with japanese character names??? I agree, we have noted that even if you retrieve the sources for a particular version of the project (using a tag for example) and then try to build it anew you will never get the same binary. THe reason for this is that if you use any of the current incarnations of development environments they build their own states into the final exe. Furthermore they tend to build in dependencies of system files thta exist on the developer's PC at the time of build. So if such a file is then sent to the customer as replacement for a damaged original it won't even start without the target system being updated with extraneous stuff like MDAC, DAO and what have you.... So we decided that all produced binaries (dll, exe, ocx, jpg, bmp etc) are also stored in the CVS repository thus enabling us to immediately access an old version of a file and send it out. We also manage our setup build process from this source. There is but one drawback: If you commit often and the binary file is rather big then the total file size in the repository can grow too large to be manageable by CVS server. The CVS server loads the complete RCS file into memory and then hammers away at it and if the file is a couple of hundred megabytes this can take quite a toll on the system resources. We have used this sytem for quite a long time now and we have an executable which is approx 4 Mb in size and has about 60 revisions in CVS. The RCS file is now up to 76 Mb and we don't feel any bad performance hits by it. I think that CVS actually compresses the binary file before storing into the RCS file. /Bo -----Original Message----- From: Coble Michael, NY [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: den 19 november 2003 15:58 To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: RE: [cvsgui] can we commit word files in WinCVS with japanese character names??? Hello, Hmm, I have a comment on your thoughts for not storing binary files in the repository. I would imagine that your advice might be contrary to the desire of choosing to use CVS as a complete version control system for a development organization. A complete development effort usually contains a build-test-release cycle that includes some form of technical requirements gathering and documentation as well as images. Our development repository strategy includes version control for code, for images, for documentation, and even executables (such as particular Java, Ant, and Tomcat versions). In our case, this allows new developers to start coding, building, testing, and running our web-based applications the second they checkout a module. As for the general thought of wasted space, current prices for disk space is approaching $1 US per gigabyte these days, so IMO previous concerns about disk space are becoming antiquated. thanks! -----Original Message----- From: Gagneet Singh [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 7:37 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [cvsgui] can we commit word files in WinCVS with japanese character names??? Hi! It is best advise not to have MS Word documents inside CVS. This is due to the reason that CVS is not made for binary files and puts the complete file as a diff, so not other operation except commit and update are useful for it. So if you have a binary (I.e., MS Word) file of size 1 MB and commit it then the file on the server will be of 2 MB and keep on increasing in increments. We had encountered the problem of text files having Japanese names and had to rename the files as even Windows was not properly recognizing them. I don't think there has been a port of WinCVS to Japanese as yet. Gagneet -----Original Message----- From: adarsh_v_patil [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, 19 November, 2003 16:17 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [cvsgui] can we commit word files in WinCVS with japanese character names??? Dear all, I have a small problem. I want to know is there a way to commit MS Word files with Japanese names as the file name???? Girish Yahoo! Groups Sponsor <http://rd.yahoo.com/SIG=12cg33142/M=259395.3614674.4902533.1261774/D=eg roupweb/S=1707281907:HM/EXP=1069348778/A=1524963/R=0/*http://hits.411web .com/cgi-bin/autoredir?camp=556&lineid=3614674&prop=egroupweb&pos=HM> <http://us.adserver.yahoo.com/l?M=259395.3614674.4902533.1261774/D=egrou pmail/S=:HM/A=1524963/rand=506141378> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> . 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