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115 points graderjs | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.224s | source
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codenesium ◴[] No.25004913[source]
Is sqlite not diffable?
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jitl ◴[] No.25005043[source]
SQLite database files themselves are binary, which typically isn't diff-able with standard tools, so (eg) git wouldn't show you anything useful unless you configure a special tool for diffing sqlite files.

And in fact, there is a sqlitediff.exe tool for diffing sqlite databases: https://sqlite.org/sqldiff.html

But, it would still be a bummer to store them in git because git won't efficiently track changes between sqlite databases, it'll just add the whole binary blob on every commit. oof.

replies(1): >>25005799 #
framecowbird ◴[] No.25005799[source]
This might be a silly question, but is there a reason why git can't also diff binary files? If I have a huge binary file and I change a few bytes in the middle, what's stopping Git just checking that in as a diff? I don't see what's so special about text...

[edit] just did some research and it looks like Git will store the delta of a binary file in its packfiles, just like a text file. The question is just how delta-able sqlite binary files are.

replies(3): >>25005829 #>>25006385 #>>25006508 #
1. graderjs ◴[] No.25005829[source]
I know Drew from Dropbox implemented a binary diff for his first version (on a bus) but I don't know the details. I don't know if git can somehow...but I suppose you could always MIME encode it (like email base64 encoding).