file/libmagic

[Richard Moore]

On Thursday 15 May 2003 23:14, Waldo Bastian wrote:
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> On Friday 16 May 2003 01:17, Richard Moore wrote:
> > I wonder if it might not be better to take an approach like the one we
> > (KDE) use in KSycoca and make the text format the definitive copy but to
> > generate a binary cache of the contents. In KDE we take things a little
> > further and monitor the files used to create the cache for changes, but
> > even without that, this approach has the advantage of maintaining the
> > master files in a human editable format. The ability to recreate the
> > cache on demand also removes a single point of failure.
>
> That's basically what the new spec does. Only difference is that it is
> updated as part of the install process (compare ldconfig) while ksycoca
> does it at application runtime.

Do you mean that the cache is recreated whenever a new magic entry is added, 
or just when the main magic database is installed? If it's the first then it 
sounds great, I don't like the seconds possibility though as it would 
preclude an app adding entries for its own data files.

>
> I think the approach from the spec is better than the ksycoca approach for
> this particular case. (The strength of ksycoca is in those cases where you
> need to cross-reference data)

Sure, I'm not saying we should copy the whole ksycoca system just for the sake 
of it.

Cheers

Rich.