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Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 03:44:05 -0800 (PST)
From: Ben Wing <wing@best.com>
To: Steven L Baur <steve@miranova.com>
cc: xemacs-beta@xemacs.org, Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu>,
        Peter Pezaris <pez@dwwc.com>, Martin Buchholz <mrb@eng.sun.com>
Subject: Re: 19.15 b4 success and beef
In-Reply-To: <m2u3pjx9x8.fsf@altair.xemacs.org>
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require-final-newline should *NOT* default to t.  Principle of least
surprise, likesay ...

Anyone know to tell pine to use your own custom sendmail program?

On 18 Dec 1996, Steven L Baur wrote:

> >>>>> "Martin" == Martin Buchholz <mrb@eng.sun.com> writes:
> >>>>> "Pez" == Peter Pezaris <pez@dwwc.com> writes:
> 
> Pez> I would vote for changing it.  I would also vote for
> Pez> including a EOF delimiter by default.
> 
> Martin> Referring to the value of require-final-newline, right?
> 
> I thought he meant a tag like the ``[END]'' in VAX Editors.
> 
> Martin> I think require-final-newline should default to something
> Martin> other than nil.  Very few people edit files which require the
> Martin> final newline to be MISSING.
> 
> But when they need it missing, they *really* need it missing.  I've
> lost track of the number of times Emacs has saved my butt due to its
> ability to edit binary files.
> 
> Martin> Most object code files are not damaged by having a trailing
> Martin> newline added at the end, so even if you're in the habit of
> Martin> editing binary executables directly, nothing should go wrong.
> 
> Martin> It *is* true that there is a slight chance of user
> Martin> astonishment, if the user does an ls -l before and after
> Martin> editing, and compares file sizes (I've done this).
> 
> Martin> Proposal:
> 
> Martin> require-final-newline should default to t.
> 
> Martin> (The folks I support have run this way for years)
> 
> Martin> Alternate proposal:
> 
> Martin> require-final-newline should default to 'ask.
> 
> I prefer the alternate proposal of the two, but I've never had a
> problem with how Emacs deals with this.
> -- 
> steve@miranova.com baur
> Unsolicited commercial e-mail will be billed at $250/message.
> "That Bill Clinton.  He probably doesn't know how to log on to the
> Internet."  -- Rush Limbaugh, noted Computer Expert
> 

