skipBinary option should be true by default

[alexbain]

I ran into an issue where gulp-replace was trying to parse binary files in my project, which lead me to discover the skipBinary option. This is set to false, by default.

Why is a string replacement library trying to parse binary files, by default? I can't think of a use case where this is a sensible default. It seems far more sane to have skipBinary be true by default and, if someone needs to parse binary files, they adjust that setting to false.

[lazd]

I would imagine that your globs would only target files you want to perform a replacement on. `skipBinary`, to me, is a way of letting people be lazy with their globs. What are your thoughts on that?

[alexbain]

Hi @lazd - I do see your point, but my thought is that binary files are very rarely files you perform string replacements on. In my case, the string replacement was corrupting all of my binary files.

Since replacing strings in binary files is a "risky" operation, and something I'd imagine people are attempting only under specific circumstances, it seems generally safer to make users to opt in to that setting. This way, users are less likely to shoot themselves in the foot and can be lazy with their globs.

[lazd]

I agree, very few use cases need to perform a string replacement in a binary file.

Changing skipBinary to true by default would result in a major version increase. There are some other things we're considering, such as #50, that may require breaking API changes, so if this is done, it should be done at the same time.

[alexbain]

That makes sense, and I agree it would be a major version increase. Thank you for considering!

[abdonrd]

Any news on that? I also have the corrupting binary files issue.

[lazd]

@abdonrd then set skipBinary: true...

[lazd]

1.0.0 released with skipBinary: true by default.