Re: ed and ^M: damages files unbeknownst to the user

[Dan Jacobson]

>>>>> "A" == Andrew L Moore <address@hidden> writes:

A> GNU ed is anti-Microsoft.
A> Try `l'isting the result.  It contains an embedded carriage return (\r).

I'd just like to point out that the user is totally innocent in this
case.  He did not leave his unix system to edit a Microsoft file, he
would have no warning that an occasional unix utility would produce
CR-LF files... so, we have a utility [gnu ed] that will scramble files
unbeknownst to the user: either giving him "what you see is not what
you get" or some other problem.

Even if he did edit a microsoft file, don't you agree that it might be
charitable to clue him in that something might be not as he expects?

That he should use the l command instead of the p command is not
something you should blame him with after he has already ruined his
file unbeknownst to him.

Solution: at least a warning could be output, or at least an "?":
?
h
Binary file

which could include all cases where what you see is not what you
probably get.  I'd say that is the minumum needed... otherwise you've
got a utility that damages files unbeknownst to the user, which is a
serious bug.

A> # ed /var/spool/news/out.going/884-1005862565-1  
A> 658
A> 1
A> Newsgroups: tw.bbs.soc.media,tw.bbs.rec.tv
A> s/$/,soc.culture.taiwan/l
A> Newsgroups: tw.bbs.soc.media,tw.bbs.rec.tv\r,soc.culture.taiwan$

A> The result is correct with respect to the POSIX standard, I believe.
A> -AM

A> In message <address@hidden>, Dan Jacobson writes:
>> While using ed on a file formatted with ^M's at the end of each
>> line, the output could be quite disturbing:
>> 
>> # ed /var/spool/news/out.going/884-1005862565-1  
>> 658
>> 1
>> Newsgroups: tw.bbs.soc.media,tw.bbs.rec.tv
>> s/$/,soc.culture.taiwan 
>> ,soc.culture.taiwansoc.media,tw.bbs.rec.tv
>> u
>> p
>> Newsgroups: tw.bbs.soc.media,tw.bbs.rec.tv
>> s/$/xxx
>> xxxsgroups: tw.bbs.soc.media,tw.bbs.rec.tv
>> u
>> s/tv/tv,soc.culture.taiwan 
>> Newsgroups: tw.bbs.soc.media,tw.bbs.rec.tv,soc.culture.taiwan 
>> w
>> 678
>> q
>> 
>> One seems not to be able to keep track of what ed is thinking from
>> merely looking at the screen.
>> 
>> $ ed --version
>> GNU ed version 0.2
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