Mail Archives: djgpp/1998/06/14/06:58:56
On 12 Jun 1998, Gili wrote:
> I don't understand what the big deal is.. If we convert all our
> documentation files to the UNIX (binary-mode) standard we'll all save
> lots of diskspace. Sure, you run into the problem of editing (edit.exe
> won't work) but that can easily be rectified.. From what I understand,
> RHIDE can properly load/modify/save UNIX-style .info files.. Why not
> make the switch?
You can make the switch for yourself, if you want. But I don't think
it's a good idea to do this for everybody, precisely because some
people look at Info files with DOS tools which cannot grok Unix-style
text files. Some people even edit Info files with a DOS editor, which
in most cases means the CR characters are added when you save the
edited file.
IMHO, any Info reader that fails to display both Unix- and DOS-style
Info files has a bug which should be corrected (assuming that what
started this thread is indeed a bug and not a cockpit error). There's
no need to make large-scale changes with long-range consequences just
because some program has a bug, IMHO.
Historical note: there was a time when the stand-alone Info reader
info.exe needed Unix-style files, and wouldn't work correctly with
DOS-style ones. The amount of complaints about this was so large that
a patched version without this misfeature was hastily uploaded to
SimTel. (You can still find the traces of that snafu in section 6.8
of the FAQ.) I don't recommend anybody to go back to that situation.
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