Re: Proposal: create XML based .gorm format: .xorm

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> On 22. Jul 2026, at 07:35, Gregory Casamento =
<[email protected]> wrote:
>=20
> As our team grows, the binary nature of .gorm files is becoming =
untenable. Because Git cannot merge binary files, concurrent changes =
result in merge conflicts where "the last person to merge wins."

> While we can easily read these formats, writing to them will always be =
imperfect. Therefore, I propose we design a custom, project-controlled =
serialization format that meets three criteria:
>     1. Compositional Structure: Nested objects should reflect the =
actual UI hierarchy (e.g., nesting an NSView inside an NSWindow tag).
>     2. Human-Readable & Editable: This will allow clean version =
control and manual merging.
>     3. Project-Controlled: We dictate the schema, protecting us from =
external breaking changes.

Hi,

This might be a bit out of left field, but is it perhaps feasible to
instead have a Gorm merge tool, keeping the format? I.e. you give it a
base/ours/theirs and it will merge the files with its specific
structural knowledge about Gorm files (maybe even built into Gorm
itself). Git already doesn=E2=80=99t have to use its built-in text =
merge, you can
use whatever tool you want.

I feel like generic text merge on a complex data format like UI layout
even if the format is theoretically suitable for it is always going to
be error-prone, especially if you aren=E2=80=99t an expert on reading =
the format
(and I feel like a merge tool would be more the NeXTSTEP approach :^) ).

Cheers,
Katalin


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