4.00 5.00 | 4.00 5.00 | 4.00
WINDOWS | WINDOWS NT | MS-DOS
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Windows, versions 4.0, 5.0
- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Windows NT, versions 4.0, 5.0
- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for MS-DOS, versions 4.0
- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Windows 95, versions 4.0, 5.0
SUMMARY
There are four differences regarding how Visual SourceSafe treats binary
files. The Help file gives only three of them, but the "User's Guide" gives
all four.
MORE INFORMATION
How Visual SourceSafe Treats Binary Files
There are three differences regarding how Visual SourceSafe treats binary
files that are significant.
The Help file describes only three differences for how Visual SourceSafe
treats binary files as follows:
- Internally, Visual SourceSafe's mechanisms for storing changes differs
for text files (which have distinct lines as units of comparison) and
binary files (which have no obvious line delimiter). That's why it is
important for Visual SourceSafe to correctly identify the type of a
file. The wrong type does not result in errors, but it makes Visual
SourceSafe's algorithms much less efficient.
- Another area of difference is with respect to the Show Differences
command. With a binary file, Visual SourceSafe stores each change as a
small record of which bytes moved where: useful for reconstructing
earlier versions, but not for display. Therefore, when you use the Show
Differences command on a binary file, Visual SourceSafe can tell you if
the file has changed; but it cannot display how the file has changed.
- The third difference occurs with end-of-line characters. With a text
file, Visual SourceSafe automatically translates end-of-line characters
between different operating systems; with a binary file, Visual
SourceSafe never alters the contents of the file in any way (except for
keyword expansion).
The "User's Guide," however, mentions an additional difference:
- Another difference in Visual SourceSafe's treatment of binary files
compared with text files is that binary files cannot be merged.
Therefore, multiple checkouts cannot be done with binary files.
REFERENCES
Visual SourceSafe 4.0 Help file, "Setting the File Type: Text and
Binary Files."
Visual SourceSafe 4.0, "User's Guide," Chapter 4, Project and File
Basics, "Distinguishing Text and Binary Files" Section, "How Visual
SourceSafe Treats Binary Files" topic.
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