Large files and locking

Grixel is built to handle the big binary files that come with real projects — art, audio, levels, datasets, models — not just source code.

#Big files just work

You don't do anything special. Add a large file and submit it like any other. When you edit it and submit again, Grixel only stores the parts that actually changed, so keeping full history of a gigabyte file doesn't cost a gigabyte every time. You can check how a file is stored:

grixel stat companies/acme/games/seasonal art/hero.psd

#Why binary files need locking

Text files can be merged: if two people edit different lines, Grixel combines them. Binary files can't. If two people edit the same .psd or level file at the same time, one of them will lose their work, and no merge can recover it.

The fix is an exclusive lock: claim the file before you edit it, and nobody else can submit changes to it until you're done.

#Claim a file before editing it

grixel edit companies/acme/games/seasonal/art/hero.psd

Now the file is yours until you submit. If someone else tries to claim or submit it, they're told you hold it — so they find out before they waste an afternoon, not after. See who holds what:

grixel locks

The lock releases automatically when your submit lands. You can also release it yourself:

grixel unlock companies/acme/games/seasonal/art/hero.psd

#The safety net

Even if you forget to claim a file, grixel submit will automatically claim the lock for any file that requires one, and stop early if someone else already holds it. That prevents you from silently overwriting a teammate. But it can't give you back time you spent editing a file that was already claimed — so the habit worth building is to run grixel edit before you open a binary file, not after.

Your administrator decides which file types require a lock (typically art, audio, and level formats). For those types, claiming first is the norm.