From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: David Kastrup Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: diff-mode misinterprets empty lines. Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:12:29 +0100 Message-ID: <85k5o03aua.fsf@lola.goethe.zz> References: <85ir3l767y.fsf@lola.goethe.zz> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1196377958 30416 80.91.229.12 (29 Nov 2007 23:12:38 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:12:38 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: rms@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Nov 30 00:12:47 2007 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1IxsYn-00028u-1c for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:12:45 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1IxsYW-0005Wi-VG for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:12:28 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1IxsYT-0005Wd-Pn for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:12:25 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1IxsYS-0005WF-6n for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:12:25 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1IxsYS-0005WC-4W for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:12:24 -0500 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([140.186.70.10]) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1IxsYS-0002gM-5R for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:12:24 -0500 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lola.goethe.zz) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1IxsYM-0004vI-3S; Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:12:18 -0500 Original-Received: by lola.goethe.zz (Postfix, from userid 1002) id CEA5E1C4D3AA; Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:12:29 +0100 (CET) In-Reply-To: (Richard Stallman's message of "Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:31:43 -0500") User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.0.50 (gnu/linux) X-detected-kernel: by monty-python.gnu.org: Linux 2.6, seldom 2.4 (older, 4) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:84324 Archived-At: Richard Stallman writes: > When people don't want trailing whitespace warnings to trigger in their > editor, they should obviously amend diff-mode for that. But changing > the diff format instead is insane. And that patch happens to have > tolerance code intended to deal with utterly broken mailers is no excuse > for that. > > Are you suggesting I should ask the diff maintainers to revert that > change? That might be a good idea. Personally, I would consider this a good idea. The "patch" program has apparently been made robust in the presence of mail-mangled patches, cut&paste carnage and other damage. But "patch works with it" is, in my opinion, not a positive definition of the diff format (while "patch fails" is a different issue): patch is not the only program working with diffs, and some version control systems have a diff-based workflow without using "patch" for it. Here is the format definition actually delivered with diff itself for context diffs: And here another for unified diffs: It appears quite definite from the description that no whitespace reduction is intended, neither for content nor for formatting characters. So yes, I would ask the diff maintainers to revert the change. I can't think of a good reason for it at all, but maybe they can, so it would probably be a good idea to keep emacs-devel in the list (after all, Emacs is one of the applications broken by this, for now): that way we might together reach consensus on the best course. -- David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum