Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 19:01:28 +0000 From: gjm11@dpmms.cam.ac.uk To: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: bin/5901: new version of `fmt' Message-ID: <E0y9aSu-000198-00@g.pet.cam.ac.uk>
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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: To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-bugs" in the body of the message
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