v4.5.2's list of Changed files is not accurate

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lwc
Posts: 518
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2005 5:46 am

v4.5.2's list of Changed files is not accurate

Post by lwc »

Whenever there's a new version, I download the ZIP and overwrite myself and other acquaintances' existing files, so I found it interesting this time https://www.esumsoft.com/products/pop-p ... onhistory/ claims only 3 files were changed from v4.5.1, which was supposed to make my job easier.

Alas, that's not true. Just as random examples: cacert-full.pem, POPPeeper.chm and Version.txt. I see the announcement removed (or never put it in the first place) this statement, so maybe delete it from the site too.

It's just that people who replace files like me should know there are other files that got changed too.
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Jeff
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Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2001 9:46 pm

Re: v4.5.2's list of Changed files is not accurate

Post by Jeff »

I added that mostly for my own benefit, as I had to make sure that I sync'd all the files correctly (ie. replace v5 files with original v4) when generating the installation files. The other files are just incidentals. But I won't do it again.


Why don't your just overwrite all the files...? If I knew the reason maybe I could do something different.
lwc
Posts: 518
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2005 5:46 am

Re: v4.5.2's list of Changed files is not accurate

Post by lwc »

Jeff wrote: Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:10 pm Why don't your just overwrite all the files...? If I knew the reason maybe I could do something different.
  1. Because I also overwrite files through Google Drive and I don't think you can do it recursively there, so it helps me to know how many folders I need to go through.
  2. Even more so, when you overwrite someone else's Google Drive files, if you enter a specific file and upload a new revision then they remain the owner. But if you just drag and drop files then you become the owner and the previous revisions get lost.
  3. Even if there are worse things that affect fragmentation and HD health, still even for principle alone I don't like overwriting identical files. ;-)
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Jeff
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Re: v4.5.2's list of Changed files is not accurate

Post by Jeff »

I don't use cloud storage for that kind of thing, so I can't comment on that. But on that last point... I think I have a new yardstick for some of the crazy habits that *I* have. ;)

Those were not the kind of answers I was expecting, though, so there's nothing I can do to help. Do you use some kind of diff tool to do the comparison? That's what I would do (of course, you'd have to extract the files so maybe reason #3 would make that taboo). I actually wrote a tool to do that very thing many years ago for personal use. I called it "MD5FolderCompare" and -- just like POP Peeper -- it quickly became a misnomer because it also has the option to compare by timestamp and CRC :D
lwc
Posts: 518
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2005 5:46 am

Re: v4.5.2's list of Changed files is not accurate

Post by lwc »

I didn't go that far. To prove the point without even extracting the files, I just checked dates. Once I saw some files were newer, then I did extract to compare some sizes. One or two comparisons were enough to prove I might as well extract everything. Then I made the extracted files overwrite the existing files, so no efficiency was lost. ;-)

Oh, I forgot to mention all backup programs, whether online like Google Drive or offline to USB sticks, only copy changed files. How do you define "changed files"? I don't know, but we should assume each backup program decides differently. So the more files you overwrite, the more likely the slower the backup works, which slows your work and Internet connection and also hurts your USB stick's health.

It's not about Pop Peeper specifically. It's kind of like how many programs stopped using the registry. Every program by itself doesn't affect the registry too much. But all programs combined...
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