On Sep 20 17:05:10, mans@xxxxxxxxx wrote: > Jan Stary <hans@xxxxxxxx> writes: > > >> > I am proposing to remove libmagic from SoX, because > >> > > >> > 1. It is of questionable utility. Next time you encounter > >> > a missnamed or unrecognizable audio file, just run file(1) on it. > >> > That's what file(1) is for. > >> > >> Wrong. How would you do that in an automated fashion? > > > > I don't understand the question - > > cannot file(1) be scripted just like sox? > > What do you propose one should do with the file(1) output? Ah, that's right. But I still believe that if I have a misnamed or unrecognizable file (say, an OGG file named *.wav), the first thing to do is to fix _that_, (i.e. rename it to *.ogg) and only then run SoX on it. Using libmagic in SoX let's me ignore that: sox --magic let's me treat the *.wav file as an OGG which it is. That is _not_ a good thing: the very same problem is still there. > >> > 2. I haven't inspected the code closely, but it also seems that > >> > for the libmagic functionality to even happen, you need to call SoX > >> > with an explicit --magic. If that's the case, tell me: > >> > >> Yes, that is the case. > >> > >> > have you ever done that? No. So you are not using it anyway. > >> > >> Again, it doesn't matter. Since it's there, I have to assume someone is > >> using it. > > > > This seems to be exactly the point where we differ: > > I believe it's dead code: > > Based on what? That *you* haven't ever needed it? No. That's why I am asking here first. (So far, zero people said "I am using it".) > >> > So far the only argument for it to stay is that it's already there. > >> > IMHO that's not a reason for it to be there. Or, to paraphrase: > >> > code without reason is always misguided. > >> > > >> > Of course I can build my SoX --without-magic (and I do). I just > >> > believe that it would be beneficial to SoX as a piece of software to > >> > drop it entirely. It would be smaller without really losing anything. > >> > >> It would be losing a feature. How is that ever beneficial? > > > > Again, this seems to be the very difference in attitude: > > "features must never be removed". No wonder software gets > > evr more bloated. > > By extension, features should never be added either. > Hell, we should just stop writing software at all. Again with the false generalizations. No, that's not what I am saying. But your argument for "why should libmagic stay" is "because it's there". That's not a reason to keep it. > Why do you hate this particular feature so badly? I don't hate it (or have any other sentiment towards it). I just think it's unused cruft of questionable value, and thus a candidate for removal. That's why I asked if people are using it. (So far, no-one said yes.) NB: Using libmagic in SoX means explicitly using the --magic option. If anyone is doing that, please speak up. > >> That said, having looked at the code, the use of libmagic is actually > >> quite limited and could probably be replaced with little effort without > >> losing any functionality. If I cared as deeply as you appear to do, > >> that's where I'd be looking. > > > > "Replaced" with what? > > Similar functionality re-implemented without libmagic. How would that be any different? I don't have anything against libmagic itself; but I believe SoX does not need to try to guess unrecognized file formats, be it via libmagic or something quite-the-same-but-different internally. If I have an OGG file named *.wav, _that_ is the problem. If an internet radio streams a FLAC stream named *.mp3, _that_ is the problem. And using libmagic (or any format guessing for that matter) _in_SoX_ is not a solution to it. Instead, find out what the format really is, maybe using a tool designed for file format guessing such as file(1), and fix _that_ first. "Fixing" it within SoX is imho a pollution of SoX. That's my point. Jan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Sox-users mailing list Sox-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sox-users
