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Re: Re: Action request: mime-type of xml-dtd should be treated as text

From: Erik Huelsmann <ehuels_at_gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 08:06:25 +0100

On Feb 5, 2008 7:47 PM, Paul Koning <Paul_Koning_at_dell.com> wrote:
> >>>>> "John" == John Peacock <john.peacock_at_havurah-software.org> writes:
>
> John> Mark Irving wrote:
> >> An XML DTD is often, but not always, prepared with a text editor
> >> or a syntax-aware text editor. Exactly the same claim can be made
> >> about, say, a C++ source file. If SVN presents C++ source as text,
> >> shouldn't it do the same for application/xml-dtd? The argument is
> >> weaker for application/xml, which is more likely to be edited with
> >> a specialized program, but is often text.
>
> John> I've already responded several times to these threads
> John> explaining that in the generic case, all XML files are not
> John> "text documents" from the point of view of Subversion (or
> John> ordinary diff tools for that matter). So far, no one seems to
> John> believe me, perhaps because I have not been using the
> John> appropriate language. Let me try again. ...
>
> I find Mark's C++ analogy a lot more convincing than the argument you
> gave.
>
> Another consideration is this: binary file functionality in Subversion
> is a strict subset of text file functionality. So, even if it is true
> that for SOME XML files it is not helpful to consider it as a text
> file, treating XML a text cannot possibly do harm, but it often will
> be a benefit. Conversely, treating XML as binary data cannot possibly
> be helpful, but it often will be a problem.
>
> Finally, there's the "principle of least astonishment". If a file
> looks like text (if I open it in a text editor, I see printable
> characters -- which is the case for XML) then the expected behavior is
> that tools will treat it as text.

... which is *exactly* what Subversion will do if you don't set the
svn:mime-type property. So, basically, you're complaining here that
you intervened into a perfectly working system, and now it doesn't
work anymore. I can only say "Don't do that.".

bye,

Erik.

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Received on 2008-02-07 08:06:46 CET

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