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Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 11:02:59 +0300
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT gnu DOT org>
Subject: Re: tabs vs. spaces and how to "best" compress files
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To: Jay <jay DOT krell AT cornell DOT edu>
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> From: Jay <jay DOT krell AT cornell DOT edu>
> Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 04:48:38 +0000
> 
> The problem with tabs is they render differently depending on settings.

If you write your own code, you will be consistent.

In code written by other people, you cannot rely on them using spaces
no more than you can rely on consistent settings for tab stops.

> I can change it to 8 space tabs per-file, but it doesn't stick if I close/reopen.

In Emacs, you can add a file-local variable setting to the file,
setting tab-width to whatever the file needs to look pretty.