diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'FILEFORMAT_1')
| -rw-r--r-- | FILEFORMAT_1 | 16 |
1 files changed, 16 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/FILEFORMAT_1 b/FILEFORMAT_1 index b16d85a..189cc84 100644 --- a/FILEFORMAT_1 +++ b/FILEFORMAT_1 @@ -86,3 +86,19 @@ such as RTL/LTR marks (U+200E/U+200F) to prevent the possibility of "Trojan Source" type attacks. (See <https://lwn.net/Articles/874951/> for more info on "Trojan Source") + + +### Sorting + +To generate stable metatdata files that do not depend on the order that files +are returned by `readdir()`, which would producing spurious diffs, sort entries +by path ASCIIbetically, as with `strcmp(3)`. But we don't require metadata files +to be sorted when reading them. + +If we read two entries for the same path, the results are currently unspecified. + +Users should probably avoid sorting Format 1 files with standard tools like +`sort(1)`, as the HEADER line must always be first, and also URL-encoded +characters will throw off the sort order. Also, tools like `sort` will typically +sort according to the current locale, e.g. using `strcoll(3)` rather than +`strcmp()`. |