Re: Locking binary files

["Mario Pareja" <mpareja.dev@gmail.com>]

Hi,

For one and a half years, I have been keeping my eyes on the git
community in hopes of making the switch away from SVN.  One particular
issue holding me back is the inability to lock binary files.
Throughout the past year, I have yet to see developments on this
issue.  I understand that locking files goes against the fundamental
principles of distributed source control, but I think we need to come
up with some workarounds.  For Linux kernel development this is may
not be an issue; however, for application development this is a major
issue. How else can one developer be sure that time spent editing a
binary file will not be wasted because another developer submitted a
change?

To achieve the effects of locking, a "central" repository must be
identified.  Regardless of the distributed nature of git, most
_companies_ will have a "central" repository for a software project.
We should be able to mark a file as requiring a lock from the
governing git repository at a specified address.  Is this made
difficult because git tracks file contents not files?

In any case, I think this is a crucial issue that needs to be
addressed if git is going to be adopted by companies with binary file
conflict potential. I don't see how a web development company can take
advantage of git to track source code and image file changes.  Any
advice would be great!

Regards,

Mario