Subject: Re: CRLF fun stuff again...
From: Matthew Geier (matthew@arts.usyd.edu.au)
Date: Sun Feb 04 2001 - 19:07:42 EST
Duncan Sinclair wrote:
>
> Hi Folks,
>
> I wrote:
> >Until now, every time I mention this problem, people tell me that I
> >shouldn't want to do cr/lf translation, and it's an ugly hack. My reply
> >is that it is necessary for cross platform file manipulation, and I
> >really, actually, want it, thank you very much.
>
> Donald Lee writes:
> >If I may add my two cents, I think it's a bad idea for the filesystem to
> >effectively blindly fondle and convert the data. There are plenty of tools
> >out there, like bbedit, that handle text files regardless of how their
> >line endings are done.
> >
> >The downside of a problem with the CR/LF "feature" is irretrievably corrupted
> >data. What you get for this is arguably a minor "convenience".
> >
> >I think it's a bad trade.
> >
> >I keep it turned off, and recommend this to all who ask.
>
> This is the sort of thing I mean. I know that BBEdit handles Unix
> files transparently. That's not what I'm interested in. I want to
> edit Mac-produced files on the Unix end. Vi doesn't "do" Mac-style
> line endings. Nor does any other unix utility. Nor should they.
>
> Typical example... I have users that edit HTML pages using their
> favourite HTML editor and then copy their pages to my server. I later
> may want to edit their pages from my Sun. I first have to do the cr/lf
> conversion myself. I wouldn't have to do this if the cr/lf translation
> worked properly.
'vim' does Mac and PC style eol conventions and can auto detect. VIM is
often shipped as the 'vi' on Linux distributions.
It is worth noting that the Samba team have point blank refused to add
any form of 'translation' to Samba. It serves files exactly 'as is'.
They argue that EOL conventions are an Application problem and its not
the file servers job to try and guess what the user is up to and mess
around with the contents of the files.
-- Matthew Geier matthew@arts.usyd.edu.au Arts IT Unit +61 2 9351 4713 Sydney University
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