From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 11432 invoked from network); 6 Mar 2021 21:38:35 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 6 Mar 2021 21:38:35 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 79AB59CAA8; Sun, 7 Mar 2021 07:38:32 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ED7C39CA70; Sun, 7 Mar 2021 07:38:16 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 461129CA70; Sun, 7 Mar 2021 07:38:14 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mcvoy.com (mcvoy.com [192.169.23.250]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 304EA9CA6D for ; Sun, 7 Mar 2021 07:38:13 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mcvoy.com (Postfix, from userid 3546) id A758235E1FA; Sat, 6 Mar 2021 13:38:11 -0800 (PST) Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2021 13:38:11 -0800 From: Larry McVoy To: Dave Horsfall Message-ID: <20210306213811.GF1054@mcvoy.com> References: <202103041831.124IVZTj018003@freefriends.org> <604133A6.8070101@gmail.com> <25705.1614938294@hop.toad.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.24 (2015-08-30) Subject: Re: [TUHS] tabs vs spaces - entab, detab X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" On Sun, Mar 07, 2021 at 08:31:57AM +1100, Dave Horsfall wrote: > (Straying into COFF territory here) > > On Fri, 5 Mar 2021, John Gilmore wrote: > > >The one that got me was make(1). Being used to text editors that used > >"tab" as a command rather than a literal character, I proposed a fix early > >on at Sun that would allow leading spaces as well as tabs in Makefiles. > >(I think this was in the Unisoft Unix days, pre-BSD.) Bill Shannon > >actually put it into their source tree. But in a few days or weeks, he > >took it back out, because he realized that Makefiles built on Suns using > >leading spaces wouldn't work anywhere else. > > I loathe make's distinguishment between tabs and spaces; they look the same > on the screen, and last I looked computers are supposed to serve humans and > not the other way around. Has anyone asked Stu Feldman why make wanted a tab? Or does anyone know? I have to believe there was a better reason than it was one tab vs 8 spaces.