[OFF TOPIC] From: LAME 3.99 is out, From Topic ID: 91372 Options

[apodtele]

Nonetheless, LAME should have replaced the old tag instead of piling on. It is a bug in LAME.

LAME creates the file, there is nothing to replace. Sorry, no bug in LAME.

Right you are. It's a bug in EAC that piles on tags instead of replacing.

[greynol]

Right you are. It's a bug in EAC that piles on tags instead of replacing.

I think this should be chalked-up to user error. EAC did not automatically configure itself to have Lame tag the file and then add its own tag afterward.

This post has been edited by greynol: Dec 6 2011, 18:59

[apodtele]

Right you are. It's a bug in EAC that piles on tags instead of replacing.

I think this should be chalked-up to user error. EAC did not automatically configure itself to have Lame tag the file and then add its own tag afterward.

The program must protect itself from idiots. Or, security holes would be user errors too. It is an EAC bug, because it should check
if the file contains the tag already before writing its own.

[greynol]

The program must protect itself from idiots.

EAC can be configured to erase your entire music library. Should this be made idiot-proof as well?

The ability to use the command line gives you a very powerful tool; and with this tool comes responsibility.

This post has been edited by greynol: Dec 7 2011, 20:02

[apodtele]

The program must protect itself from idiots.

EAC can be configured to erase your entire music library. Should this be made idiot-proof as well?

Yes, absolutely. I always appreciate a little warning given that this is much more likely an unintentional idiotic error.
A program that does what an idiot says is -- well -- idiotic too.

[Ouroboros]

If you try to imagine every possible thing an idiot could do with a piece of software, and remove that possibility by coding it out or providing suitable error messages, 99.99% of all the software you use would never be released. That type of defensive software design is reserved for nuclear plant control, aircraft flight control, etc. (i.e. software where failure threatens lives), and it costs many tens of millions of pounds / euros / dollars to design and test and support, because the number of possible failure modes (whether internal or generated by incorrect/idiotic user input or configuration) is far larger than the number of intended usage modes.

Your music collection isn't life critical, and consequently nobody produces and sells such defensively written software. Software that allows you to do idiotic things isn't of itself idiotic, any more than a car that allows you to drive off a 200 foot high cliff is idiotic. It's often known as PEBKAC.

If you'd paid anything for any of this software then you might have cause for a minor whinge about this slight and easily fixed problem not being described in the manual for one or both pieces of software, but all of the software involved here is completely free......

[apodtele]

We've wandered into a hypothetical discussion about airplanes. Going back to EAC and its duplicate tags, it is now cheap to fix a real life use case.
Just check and bail if the tag already exists. There is no need to prevent nuclear meltdown until it can be demonstrated.