Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!usenet.pasdenom.info!aioe.org!feeder.news-service.com!news2.euro.net!newsfeed.xs4all.nl!newsfeed6.news.xs4all.nl!xs4all!post.news.xs4all.nl!not-for-mail Return-Path: X-Original-To: python-list@python.org Delivered-To: python-list@mail.python.org X-Spam-Status: OK 0.000 X-Spam-Evidence: '*H*': 1.00; '*S*': 0.00; 'python,': 0.01; 'subject:: [': 0.03; 'dynamically': 0.09; 'likewise,': 0.09; 'nicely': 0.09; 'subject:tools': 0.09; 'looked': 0.10; 'written': 0.12; 'am,': 0.14; 'binary': 0.14; 'meaningful': 0.14; 'wrote:': 0.14; '*can*': 0.16; '-tkc': 0.16; 'committing': 0.16; 'comparisons.': 0.16; 'fossil': 0.16; 'from:addr:python.list': 0.16; 'from:addr:tim.thechases.com': 0.16; 'from:name:tim chase': 0.16; 'mercurial,': 0.16; 'message-id:@tim.thechases.com': 0.16; 'mixture': 0.16; 'non-text': 0.16; 'received:70.251': 0.16; 'received:dsl.rcsntx.swbell.net': 0.16; 'received:rcsntx.swbell.net': 0.16; 'received:swbell.net': 0.16; 'subject:non': 0.16; 'unpack': 0.16; 'url:bazaar': 0.16; 'useless.': 0.16; 'webs': 0.16; 'subject:was': 0.16; 'subject:] ': 0.16; 'stuff': 0.18; 'fair': 0.19; 'url:doc': 0.20; 'cc:no real name:2**0': 0.20; 'cc:2**0': 0.20; 'code': 0.22; 'header:In-Reply- To:1': 0.22; 'cc:addr:python-list': 0.22; 'url:wiki': 0.24; 'stored': 0.25; 'proprietary': 0.26; 'are.': 0.29; 'formats': 0.29; 'reports,': 0.29; 'cc:addr:python.org': 0.31; 'skip:( 20': 0.31; "can't": 0.31; 'store': 0.32; 'martin': 0.33; 'created': 0.33; 'bit': 0.33; 'received:70': 0.34; 'there': 0.35; 'file': 0.35; 'form.': 0.35; 'url:en': 0.35; 'header:User-Agent:1': 0.35; 'usually': 0.36; 'think': 0.36; 'some': 0.37; 'however': 0.37; 'useful': 0.37; 'but': 0.38; 'pretty': 0.38; 'files': 0.38; 'url:org': 0.38; 'here,': 0.39; 'speak': 0.39; '[1]': 0.39; 'where': 0.39; 'subject: (': 0.39; 'takes': 0.40; 'containing': 0.40; 'projects.': 0.40; 'subject:text': 0.40; 'would': 0.40; "it's": 0.40; 'give': 0.61; 'natural': 0.63; 'subject:Development': 0.73; 'to:charset:iso-8859-1': 0.83; 'each,': 0.84 Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2011 09:18:10 -0500 From: Tim Chase User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2.17) Gecko/20110414 Thunderbird/3.1.10 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Martin_Sch=F6=F6n?= Subject: Re: [OT] VCS for non-text (was Development tools and practices for Pythonistas) X-Priority: 4 (Low) References: <58a6bb1b-a98e-4c4a-86ea-09e040cb2d21@r35g2000prj.googlegroups.com> <877hagoa0u.fsf@benfinney.id.au> <00dr88-846.ln1@svn.schaathun.net> <87mxj8ir4u.fsf@benfinney.id.au> <5qqs88-9e7.ln1@svn.schaathun.net> <9222afFmqjU1@mid.individual.net> In-Reply-To: <9222afFmqjU1@mid.individual.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - boston.accountservergroup.com X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - python.org X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [47 12] / [47 12] X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - tim.thechases.com X-Source: X-Source-Args: X-Source-Dir: Cc: python-list@python.org X-BeenThere: python-list@python.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.12 Precedence: list List-Id: General discussion list for the Python programming language List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Newsgroups: comp.lang.python Message-ID: Lines: 45 NNTP-Posting-Host: 82.94.164.166 X-Trace: 1304173104 news.xs4all.nl 41117 [::ffff:82.94.164.166]:40999 X-Complaints-To: abuse@xs4all.nl Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.python:4360 On 04/30/2011 04:15 AM, Martin Schöön wrote: > You guys are very code focused, which is natural given where we are. > > Having absorbed what I have seen here, looked a little at Mercurial, > read a little on the webs of Fossil and Bazaar I start to think there > is great merit in all this VCS stuff for other types of projects. > > At work my projects contain very little coding (some Python, some > matlab/scilab perhaps) but a fair amount of CAD/CAE, written > reports, presentations (OpenOffice and that other Office), > spread sheets etc etc. A mixture of ascii-files and various > proprietary formats most of which is stored in binary form. > Some of the CAE-work generate pretty big files stored > in dynamically created subdirectories. For non-text blobs, it takes a little bit of insight to get the most out of them. For OpenDocument (Open/Libre Office documents), they're zipped files containing text/XML which can be diff'ed with more meaning. Usually there are custom filters for git[1], Mercurial[2] and Bazaar[3] which will unpack the zipped file contents before committing and give you more sensible diffs. Likewise, for images (gif/jpg/tiff/raw/etc), there are particular image-diff programs which make it easier to tell what happened, as the textual diff of binary files is pretty useless. However some images (such as .svg files) are XML/text inside, and diff pretty nicely without extra effort. I can't speak to CAD/CAE, but it would have to be addressed on a per-format basis in your given VCS. That said, you *can* store the binary blobs in each, it's just not as useful without meaningful comparisons. -tkc [1] http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/git/2008/9/15/3305014 [2] http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/HandlingOpenDocumentFiles [3] http://doc.bazaar.canonical.com/plugins/en/oodiff.html