js>> The problem is how do you know what data to add, update or delete?

 JV>     Diff-files tell you which records to add, which to replace, which
 JV> to delete and which to leave alone.

Well, yes, but the "records" are lines (nodes, hosts, regions,
comments, errors etc.) in the text file nodelist, and the diff is useless
if you don't have the original file. You don't know if the record to delete
is a node (and its full node number if so).

 js>> The diffs don't say "add 2:204/255..."; they say
"copy (ignore) 17
 js>> lines", "delete 3 lines", "add the
following 4 lines" and so on, so
 js>> you still need to have the original nodelist to be able to resolve
 js>> the diff into something useful. :-(

 JV>     You are expected to work on complete records that have been
 JV> arranged in a given order -- what are you planning to do to the data
 JV> that you can't locate your records anymore?

I'm importing the data into a db table and use the Fidonet address as the
primary key (but it's also indexed on e.g. sysop name & location for
faster searches). I'm perfectly able to locate the data, just not via the
line number the node had in the original nodelist (which would be a pita to
work with since it's likely to change every week).

I'm sure it would be possible to make the table an exact copy of the
nodelist file (with line numbers and everything) but it would be a very
complex thing to work with and most db designers would probably start
crying if they saw it. It's simpler to truncate the table and reload the
entire nodelist from the updated file.

 JV>     Do you want to scatter your data all over the place without
 JV> creating an index file or what?

Of course not.

If you know of a magic way to convert the nodediffs into SQL
insert/update/delete commands please tell me how, but if you would try this
yourself I'm sure you'd see the problem.

  Jesper,
  yeppe{at}enjoy.cc
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