"Andrew P. Black" wrote:

File types are intended to characterize the type of information in the file. Images are not the same thing as changes files. The VM expects an image file, not a changes file. And I guess that a changes file, a sources file and a fileout all have different formats, so they should have three different type codes?

No- the .changes, .sources, and file-outs SHOULD be in the same format. However, currently this is not quite the case. This is due to ( among other things ) a bug which I've just recently pointed out regarding the storage of class comments.

All are basically the same sort of animal, but store code in what are basically different "phases" of it's life- initially it is introduced to you as a file-in, at which point it enters your .changes, and at some point you could compress your own sources, wherein it enters .sources .

-les