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This repository was archived by the owner on Apr 18, 2026. It is now read-only.
This repository was archived by the owner on Apr 18, 2026. It is now read-only.

The dictionary file cannot be an FIFO #45

Description

@Steelskin

What steps will reproduce the problem?

  1. Create a FIFO 'f' using mkfifo t
  2. Run vcdiff encode -dictionary t
  3. Run echo "source data" > t in a different terminal

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?

Vcdiff should work with a FIFO dictionary, but it says Error finding size of dictionary file 't': Illegal seek. Apparently the dictionary file is handled as a random access file. Xdelta3, on the other hand, allows FIFO sources.

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?

open-vcdiff 0.8.3, Mac OS X/Homebrew.

Please provide any additional information below.

If the dictionary file is a FIFO (or in general a non-seekable source), the vcdiff command-line tool has the option of loading the entire dictionary file into its memory.

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