Re: Is XML text?

On Fri, Jun 11, 2004 at 01:11:20AM -0600, Michael W Thelen wrote:
> * Branko ??ibej <brane@xbc.nu> [2004-05-15 15:35]:
> > Should we treat XML mime-types as text? Users keep requesting this.
>
> There didn't seem to be a clear resolution although opinion of this
> patch seemed to be generally positive, so I've filed it as a PATCH
> issue. My opinion of it is also favorable; I think XML ought to be
> treated as text just as HTML or C code are. The issue is #1920:
> http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1920

To throw my two cents in here (I'm working offline here so I can't
comment on the issue tracker).

I think this is the wrong solution to this problem. In fact I think
this solution is really short sighted.

The question shouldn't be, "Are XML files text?," but should be, does
the user want diff and merging functionality for XML files.

There are some cases where it is desireable to have diff and merge
functionality on XML files. There are also cases where it is not
desireable.

But really, this is certainly not going to be the only case. .xpm files
are images but are also diff/mergeable (yes I know we already have an
exception for them). Does it make sense to continue making a list of
exceptions to the general rule of MIME-Types that start with text/ are
diffable/mergeable?

I don't think so...

I think the logical thing to do is make this a configuration option,
allowing users to provide patterns that are "text" MIME-Types. I'd say
we leave the default the same as what we have now (no configuration
variable). I think our current default is good for most users, because
this issue doesn't come up much.

Users that want XML or some other file format to be treated as text can
then use the configuration option to specify what they want.

This would also be a good canidate for repository level configuration.

-- 
Ben Reser <ben@reser.org>
http://ben.reser.org
"Conscience is the inner voice which warns us somebody may be looking."
- H.L. Mencken
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