Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: arch with 'special files'

[tomas]

On Thu, Apr 07, 2005 at 03:49:23PM +0200, Jan Hudec wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 07, 2005 at 11:54:53 +0200, address@hidden wrote:
[...]
> > That's formally correct. But I was babbling about `useful´ [...]

> I think I know what you mean. Well, yes, the point seems to be, that
> order may or may not matter and that if it does not, the tools sometimes
> reorder needlessly [...] So the trick is to let the merge tool know,
> where the order matters. If the XML schema spec was
> good, it would tell this, but I don't really believe it is as good.

Yes, you got the gist of what I was trying to say. I think the problem
is more general than just reordering. Maybe the schema helps, but perhaps
we'd need a more thorough description of what is semantically relevant
(Note: I singled out XML just as an example for files which follow a
slightly different model of our beloved `C source code´, which plays
surprisingly well with line-oriented diff/patch. In hindsight it nearly
looks like a lucky coincidence[1], doesn't it?).

---------
[1] I don't quite think it *is*, but I think its roots are on things
forgotten to most of us: e.g. 80-column punch cards and things like that.

Regards
-- tomás

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