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Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 19:01:28 +0000
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Subject: bin/5901: new version of `fmt'
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>Number:         5901
>Category:       bin
>Synopsis:       new version of `fmt'
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       low
>Responsible:    freebsd-bugs
>State:          open
>Quarter:
>Keywords:
>Date-Required:
>Class:          change-request
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Mon Mar  2 11:10:01 PST 1998
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Gareth McCaughan
>Organization:
... would probably be a good idea
>Release:        FreeBSD 2.2.5-RELEASE i386
>Environment:

	FreeBSD 2.2.5-RELEASE

>Description:

	Way back when, after submitting a few fixes to the `fmt'
	program, I mentioned that I had a drop-in replacement
	with more features and fewer bugs. (This was in discussion
	of PR bin/4520.) I have finally got round to tidying it up
	enough that I don't mind the rest of the world seeing it.

	`Drop-in' is perhaps a slight exaggeration; the existing
	`fmt' gets so many things wrong that it didn't seem sensible
	to try to be exactly equivalent.

	My proposed new version of `fmt' may be found at

		ftp://g.pet.cam.ac.uk/pub/software/fmt.tar.gz

	which is a gzipped tarchive containing the source code
	(`fmt.c') and a replacement manpage (`fmt.1').

	A brief account of user-visible differences from the old
	`fmt':

	1. There are many extra options. Options that aren't
	   understood generate a helpful usage message, instead
	   of being treated as filenames.

	2. My `fmt' doesn't by default attempt to do anything
	   special with mail message headers. (But a new option
	   makes it handle them much better than old `fmt'.)

	3. There are fewer bugs. (I haven't noticed any yet...)

	4. My `fmt' needs a special flag to make it understand
	   indented paragraphs (i.e., those whose first lines
	   are differently indented from subsequent lines). The
	   old `fmt' didn't, but its actual behaviour in the
	   presence of varying indentation left much to be desired.

	5. My `fmt' doesn't convert spaces into tabs at the starts
	   of lines unless you specifically ask it to.

	6. A few other inconspicious things have been changed. You
	   won't notice. :-)

	If these incompatibilities are not sufficient to make it
	unwise to replace the old `fmt' with mine (and the discussion
	I had with Joerg following on from bin/4520 suggests that
	they aren't) then I suggest that this replacement be
	carried out in -current.

	I remark in passing that the `fmt' in the GNU textutils is
	even better, but of course it's GPLed...

>How-To-Repeat:

	N/A

>Fix:
	
	N/A

>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted:

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