At 11:16 07.10.2005 -0500, kfogel@collab.net wrote:
>Fabian Cenedese <Cenedese@indel.ch> writes:
>> These information can be set any time and countless times to new values
>> with svn admin, be it a user or a virus. As they are unversioned you
>> won't ever find a trace that they changed. Anyone can store any data
>> if he has access to the machine. As the checksum would need to
>> get updated on every change you will never find an error. The only
>> thing you could detect with that checksum is a hardware error.
>> And if there's something wrong with the disc it would surely also
>> affect the real data files.
>
>No, you could also detect a software error -- for example, if
>Subversion were writing out revprop values *or their checksums*
>improperly. Or it might be trying to write something else, but due to
>boundary bug accidentally smash part of a revprop value or a revprop
>value's checksum. So it's technically possible for a Subversion
>problem to be detected by this means.
>
>It's not only hardware that makes mistakes :-).
Well, I admit I was assuming that svn in itself is working correctly and
the checksums were intended to find externally induced errors (hardware,
malicious software). But of course it can also be used as a self testing
unit. And yes, I know that software can always be faulty (being a software
dveloper :)
bye Fabi
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Received on Mon Oct 10 09:38:42 2005