Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 13:58:26 +0300 (IDT)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
To: Gili <sl AT psycode DOT com>
cc: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: .info files should be converted to UNIX format
In-Reply-To: <bWLoegW7sFse-pn2-XvvHrYQfZ5lh@portX69.lanzen.net>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.980614135800.6294X-100000@is>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Precedence: bulk


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.