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Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 10:53:56 -0400
From: Jeffrey Juliano <juliano AT cs DOT unc DOT edu>
Reply-To: juliano AT cs DOT unc DOT edu
To: cygwin-developers AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com
Subject: Re: hybrid text/binary mount
In-Reply-To: <200004242026.QAA06813@envy.delorie.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.SGI.4.10.10004261043050.111245-100000@cystine.cs.unc.edu>
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> > I think that most output is done in more than one character at a time
> > mode.
> 
> Yeah, but consider, for example, raw PBM files.  The first few lines
> are text lines, but after that the data is binary.  One could easily

FYI, emacs has done automatic UNIX/DOS/MAC detection for a while now.  I
use NTemacs all the time, and I don't think it's ever guessed wrong for
me.  I just tested on a raw PBM file, and it got it right.

If you emulated emacs' detection algorithm, then people would have an easy
way to check if a file would be opened binary or text.

Ah, if you implement this feature, may I suggest that `file' be augmented
to tell you wether a file looks to be text or binary?  Oops, cygwin
doesn't have file yet[1].

-jeff


[1] I can't volunteer to give it a try until June, after both the semester
and my wedding.  I'd be willing to give it a shot then, but since this
would be my first attempted contribution, I can't make any timely
promises.