Re: utf8 BOM

[Dmitry Potapov <dpotapov@gmail.com>]

On Sun, May 16, 2010 at 04:26:12AM -0700, Tait wrote:
> > Okay, so something that checks text files to see if they're utf...
> > "core.autoutf", anyone?
> 
> This (and crlf-conversion, for that matter) strikes me as something best 
> handled outside of git core, such as through checkout/commit hooks. Perhaps 
> examples of such hooks could be provided and adapted by each project and 
> user as that user/project sees fit for their specific choice of repository 
> format and development environment.

There are a few problems with using filters for crlf conversion:

1. It is a way too slow... Running a script for each file is in a repo
is even slow on Linux, and on Windows, it is going to be horrible slow.

2. You have to install this filter in every clone, and by the time when
you install it, your repository is already checked out with the wrong
ending. So, you need to fix it.

While using scripts is good where you need flexibility, it is not the
case with crlf conversion.  Users want it to just work, and they want
simple and easy to understand rules how to mark what files should and
should not be converted. If every project is going with itw own rules
and scripts, it is going to be a big mess.

Now, when we speak about charset encoding, it could make sense to try
this new feature as a filter, but if it is something that is to be used
widely, it should be eventually re-written in C.


Dmitry