Marc Chamberlin said the following on 02/11/2011 02:43 PM:
As for using a "programmer's" text editor v.s a word processor? If a tool purports to handle a plain text file, I expect that tool to honor the syntax conventions associate with plain text files.
"Purports to handle" could mean anything. Word processors can READ IN plain text files. That could be shoe-horned into "handle", but the resulting file when the word processor has finished with it is a word processor file. It is, after all, a word processing tool. There are plenty of tools for editing pain text files. Some "programmers editors" for pain text files like Kate and GVIM have facilities for "syntax directed editing" and can make smart guesses at the 'language' in the file: C/C++, perl, php, as well as various types of config file. Kate also has a terminal emulator built in, so you could view it as a development environment.
I see nothing wrong with using any tool that will edit text files, conceptually, as a simple text file.
Indeed, but I'd rather have one that will edit text files ACTUALLY.
By not displaying or warning about non-printable characters, other than CR or LF, kwrite has a bug in it.
That makes no sense. Kwrite is a WORD PROCESSOR. It writes out word processing files. It is not a text editor any more than Quanta+, Inkscape or GIMP is a text editor. All those can manipulate text, but what they write out isn't a text file
Because I had approached these configuration files via Dolphin, kwrite was handy, so I used it instead. It bit me, and I learned of it's limitation. Won't make that mistake again...
This is where Patrick would step in and say that your mistake was using a GUI -- Dolphin -- and let it make decisions for you. I would add that GUIs in general let other people make decisions for you and limit what you can see and do to what they think you should be doing and seeing. You have illustrated this point exceedingly well.
I also pointed out, that there are a number of issues with various different tools, that aligned to make the process of setting up an nfs server and an autofs client extremely difficult. You might want to focus on those instead of attacking me.
You might want to use the right tools and in the right way and gain an understanding of how the tools and facilities work and interact BEFORE hacking away. I kept saying "It works for me" and looking back I'm of the opinion that it worked without problems such as you encountered because I chose the right tools and read up and planned. I was taught "The seven Ps", but it seems one of the Ps is considered a rude word by many Nanny Filters, so its "The Six Ps" you'll find discussed most on the 'Net http://jbdcolley.com/?p=184 Marc, I see from other people and some out-of-band that you are coming across as attacking Linux, previous version of UNIX, their designers and developers and in many ways the OpenSource movement. This is not appreciated. There's a saying by the old Roman poet Horace that sums things up well: If a better system is thine, impart it freely; If not, make use of mine. -- 'Faith' means not _wanting_ to know what is true. -- Nietzsche, Der Antichrist -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org