Re: Nano: disable hard wrapping by default

[Thorsten Wilms <t_w_@freenet.de>]

On 07/11/2018 06.38, Alex Vong wrote:
>    To edit configuration files always pass nano the -w option. Without
>    the -w option long lines become wrapped lines. This creates problems
>    when saving because the lines are saved as wrapped lines instead of
>    how they were in the original file. Many time this will break
>    configuration files.

Even though I got in the habit of always using -w back in my Gentoo 
days, I either never knew leaving it out would have affected more than 
display, or I have forgotten about it. I think this qualifies as 
unexpected/surprising behavior.

> I think we can also go ahead with the change if many nano users think it
> is a better default (even if not all distros do it).

Ubuntu is also in the --disable-wrapping-as-root flag club.

A potential reason against joining would be if there's a real need for 
the default behavior (no --disable-wrapping-as-root, no -w) and it being 
hard to achieve with the flag. It looks like the option to use would be:

-r number, --fill=number
Hard-wrap  lines at column number.  If this value is 0 or less, wrapping 
will occur at the width of the screen less number columns, allowing the 
wrap point to vary along with the width of the screen  if  the screen 
is resized.  The default value is -8.  This option conflicts with -w 
(--nowrap) -- the last one given takes effect.


-- 
Thorsten Wilms

thorwil's design for free software:
http://thorwil.wordpress.com/