Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2015 19:16:59 -0600 From: Mike Karels <mike@karels.net> To: Kim Shrier <kim@westryn.net> Cc: Davide Italiano <davide@freebsd.org>, FreeBSD Hackers <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>, freebsd-current <freebsd-current@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: default pager (csh) Message-ID: <201502190116.t1J1GxAw028289@mail.karels.net> In-Reply-To: Your message of Wed, 18 Feb 2015 17:27:59 -0700. <021CBC62-4CC6-4137-897E-FE482139E09B@westryn.net>
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Kim Shrier <kim@westryn.net> wrote: > > On Feb 18, 2015, at 4:41 PM, Xin Li <delphij@delphij.net> wrote: > > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > > Hash: SHA512 > > > > On 02/18/15 15:18, Davide Italiano wrote: > >> Hi, one of the first things I do when I install FreeBSD is to > >> switch the default PAGER from more(1) to less(1). This is > >> particularly convenient, e.g. while using git diff, to show > >> something more readable. Just out of curiosity, is there a reason > >> why more(1) is still the default, and/or is this just historical? > > > > The _only_ reason that I can think of is that more(1) does not clear > > screen for certain terminals (done with 'ti' and 'te' sequences), > > while less(1) when running as less does. > > > > The less(1) behavior can be annoying to some people (sometimes even > > myself when using less to show contents of a file and ^Z to paste > > them), and unfortunately quite a few of them also happen to be the > > more vocal ones when it comes to a change. > > > Being one of those people who strongly prefer using more, I vote > against this change. Also, it is easier to scroll back in a terminal > window using more. Every system I use, if it defaults the PAGER > to less, I change it to more. I think the defaults of both programs on FreeBSD are suboptimal. I prefer more with MORE=-eF, which fixes the man page issue mentioned earlier. This is clearly a personal preference item; we won't get it "right" for everyone. However, anyone who can use git can definitely switch pagers. Trivia: the version of more on BSD systems actually is derived from less, not the original version of more. Mike
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