Teams

[Steve Gehlbach]

Troy Rollins wrote:


> The file format statement wasn't mine, but I would assume that the 
> inference is that the stack metaphor is not modular enough to support a 
> control-level current versioning system. I don't know whether or not 
> that is true, but it certainly isn't lending itself to it from where I sit.
> 

Basically, my point was that the binary file is not the best when used 
with CVS, since you cannot track changes with any specificity.  CVS is 
uses the "diff" program, which deals with changes on a text line by text 
line basis, and is quite smart at spotting insertions and deletions. 
CVS stores the final version in the repository file, along with diffs to 
each previous version.  For binary, you have to tell CVS it is binary, 
and it will just store each version verbatim.  With text files, you can 
ask CVS to tell you which lines were changed in the last checkin from 
any previous checkin, which is very useful if you are trying to track 
down a bug.  It is also useful for tracking worker productivity 
(although a small amount of code that works is a lot better than a lot 
of code that doesn't, it is unfortunately a necessary management 
function to track progress in some way or another.)


-Steve