[pmwiki-users] Diff/merge-friendly PageStore format (linebreaks)

Oliver Betz list_ob at gmx.net
Wed Mar 12 12:46:51 CDT 2008


Hello All,

before I submit this as a feature request, I would like to get some
feedback what other users think:

- snip -

With the current "page text in one line" page store format, it is hard
to compare page data files and merge differences between them.

Compare/merge of page data files can be very useful after PmWiki
updates to track changes in wikilib.d and merge them with local
customizations. The same applies for maintaining multiple wikis.

There are great visual diff tools like KDiff3, Meld, Beyond Compare,
WinMerge, CSDiff..., but without linebreaks, they much less useful.

Therefore I suggest an additional/alternative page data file format
where line breaks in the page text are kept unencoded.

- snip -

I already thought about it one year ago, considering a filter for
beyond compare. Then the Wiki introduction had been delayed so I
didn't pursue the filter idea. Now I start again and I still think it
would be a good thing.

But I can't estimate whether it's worth the effort.

I also have no mature suggestion about possible implementations. What
about starting continuated lines with a special character (let it be
the space character, asterisk or whatever)?

Oliver




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