Feature Request: Detecting changed files

jclinesmith · Post by **jclinesmith** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 12:46 pm

Having used Vault for a few months now, and being the primary "internal" Vault support person for our company since I recommended and installed the product - the main question I'm asked are about files showing in the "Pending Change Set" that haven't actually changed.

It seems like the current solution is lacking:
Option 1: Determine changes by date - the problem here is files that are "touched" show as changed even though the content of the file hasn't actually changed.
Option 2: Use CRC to determine file changes - this represents a heavy IO hit and really slows down the user's machine while it's running.

It seems like a 3rd option could solve this annoying behavior. Use file date to get a list of possible changes, and then use CRC only on these files to see if there really is a change.

lbauer · Post by **lbauer** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:37 am

If a file has been touched but has not actually changed, the pending change set shows the file as "Modified." However, the details column shows "Size Unchanged." If the file has changed, the Details column shows the number of bytes plus or minus from the original size.

Does the Details column not provide enough information? Before we log a feature request, it would be helpful to know more about why the pending change set information is not adequate for your users, and what version of Vault you're using.

jclinesmith · Post by **jclinesmith** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 6:07 am

We just upgraded to version 3.5 last weekend and are still seeing the same behavior.

'Size Unchanged' is not really good enough - in some cases, we will change the server name in a config file, and even though the size hasn't changed, the contents have - you really need a CRC check to validate if the files are different.

lbauer · Post by **lbauer** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 9:48 am

Enabling CRC checks in the Vault GUI Client Local Files options will do this -- but you're saying performance is too slow.

So if I understand this correctly, you would like the CRC checks only against files whose local timestamps have changed?

jclinesmith · Post by **jclinesmith** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 12:02 pm

Exactly - I think that would be a great improvement to the product as it gives the best of both worlds - the speed of checking the date and the accuracy of the CRC check.

tomt84 · Post by **tomt84** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 7:47 am

That would be useful for us too. Similar reasoning.