diffing binary files/ custom diff filter tool

[Ulrich Eckhardt <ec...@satorlaser.com>]

I know that this question is asked pretty often here(OO.org files in 
particular), but I had an idea how to add at least an improvement to the 
situation. My particular problem is that I need to diff fonts which use a 
non-textual format. 
Anyhow, for my case it would be enough if I could have a filter that converted 
these font-files to a textual representation and then compare these. I would 
then simply take each glyph/character in that font,  compute a hash for it 
and output that hash and the codepoint to stdout. The users could still not 
see exactly how each glyph was changed, but at least they would have more 
info that just that the font was changed.
The same strategy could be applied to each member of other archives like above 
mentioned OO.org files.

Now, how would I best go about integrating this(Tips for RapidSVN and 
TortoiseSVN also greatly appreciated)?

Uli

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscribe@subversion.tigris.org
For additional commands, e-mail: users-help@subversion.tigris.org

Re: diffing binary files/ custom diff filter tool

[Branko Čibej <br...@xbc.nu>]

Ulrich Eckhardt wrote:

>Branko Čibej wrote:
>  
>
>>Ulrich Eckhardt wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>In simple words: is there a way to plug in a diff-tool that first looks at
>>>'svn:mime-type' and then conditionally calls the Right Tool(tm) for the
>>>given type?
>>>      
>>>
>>Yes, of course. The "diff tool" could be a script that looks at the SVN
>>file properties in the working copy (via "svn propget svn:mime-type,"
>>for example). However, note that this would work when explicitly calling
>>invoking "svn diff".
>>    
>>
>
>Hmmm, I tried using the --diff-cmd switch on the commandline, but it shews me 
>that I only get two files on the commandline, neither of which is in the 
>public part of the workingcopy but in some .svn subdir.
>  
>
Oh duh, that's right, you can't (always) trivially convert the diff 
parameters to a WC path. That is indeed a problem, and I can't think of 
a general solution without changes in the --diff-cmd semantics.

>>It would _not_ magically make Subversion merge 
>>differences in binary files using your tool during "svn update", because
>>Subversion's notion of when a file is binary is hard-coded, and if it
>>thinks a file is binary, it won't invoke diff3 to do the merge.
>>    
>>
>
>Doesn't SVN just look at the mime-type, too? I'd take a look at it, but the 
>weather is just too good for hacking ...
>  
>
Yes, it looks at the mime type, but the set of "text" mime-types is 
hard-coded; you can't modify it.

-- Brane


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscribe@subversion.tigris.org
For additional commands, e-mail: users-help@subversion.tigris.org

Re: diffing binary files/ custom diff filter tool

[Ulrich Eckhardt <ec...@satorlaser.com>]

Branko Čibej wrote:
> Ulrich Eckhardt wrote:
>>In simple words: is there a way to plug in a diff-tool that first looks at
>>'svn:mime-type' and then conditionally calls the Right Tool(tm) for the
>> given type?
>
> Yes, of course. The "diff tool" could be a script that looks at the SVN
> file properties in the working copy (via "svn propget svn:mime-type,"
> for example). However, note that this would work when explicitly calling
> invoking "svn diff".

Hmmm, I tried using the --diff-cmd switch on the commandline, but it shews me 
that I only get two files on the commandline, neither of which is in the 
public part of the workingcopy but in some .svn subdir.

> It would _not_ magically make Subversion merge 
> differences in binary files using your tool during "svn update", because
> Subversion's notion of when a file is binary is hard-coded, and if it
> thinks a file is binary, it won't invoke diff3 to do the merge.

Doesn't SVN just look at the mime-type, too? I'd take a look at it, but the 
weather is just too good for hacking ...

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscribe@subversion.tigris.org
For additional commands, e-mail: users-help@subversion.tigris.org

Re: diffing binary files/ custom diff filter tool

[Branko Čibej <br...@xbc.nu>]

Ulrich Eckhardt wrote:

>Ulrich Eckhardt wrote:
>[...]
>Rereading that, I find it pretty hard to understand, which might be why nobody 
>answered.
>
>In simple words: is there a way to plug in a diff-tool that first looks at 
>'svn:mime-type' and then conditionally calls the Right Tool(tm) for the given 
>type?
>  
>
Yes, of course. The "diff tool" could be a script that looks at the SVN 
file properties in the working copy (via "svn propget svn:mime-type," 
for example). However, note that this would work when explicitly calling 
invoking "svn diff". It would _not_ magically make Subversion merge 
differences in binary files using your tool during "svn update", because 
Subversion's notion of when a file is binary is hard-coded, and if it 
thinks a file is binary, it won't invoke diff3 to do the merge.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscribe@subversion.tigris.org
For additional commands, e-mail: users-help@subversion.tigris.org

Re: diffing binary files/ custom diff filter tool

[Ulrich Eckhardt <ec...@satorlaser.com>]

Ulrich Eckhardt wrote:
[...]
Rereading that, I find it pretty hard to understand, which might be why nobody 
answered.

In simple words: is there a way to plug in a diff-tool that first looks at 
'svn:mime-type' and then conditionally calls the Right Tool(tm) for the given 
type?

Uli

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscribe@subversion.tigris.org
For additional commands, e-mail: users-help@subversion.tigris.org