Re: Bug#99807: diff doesn't handle filenames with spaces (fwd)

[Hans-Bernhard Broeker]

On 6 Jun 2001, Miles Bader wrote:

> Paul Eggert <address@hidden> writes:
> > For 'diff' I plan to support both kinds of file name quoting, to cater
> > to both sets of users.  I realize this will complicate patch's life,
> > but I don't offhand see an easier solution, as I can't predict what
> > kind of quoting people will prefer in general.
> 
> I guess then my previous post can be read as a request to make
> backslash-only quoting the default (at least on non-M$ systems).

_Please_, by all means, don't make the behaviour of 'diff' depend on the
platform it's running on. It's very important that diff output remains
portable across platforms. In particular, it must remain possible to take
a 'diff' on any given platform and apply it using 'patch' on another one.
(NB: patch already accounts for MS-ish CR+LF line ends in its current
version, for the same reason).

Let's also try not to forget about backward compatibility: if remotely
possible, somewhat stale versions of 'patch' should still be able to
work with even the latest diff output, and vice versa.

-- 
Hans-Bernhard Broeker (address@hidden)
Even if all the snow were burnt, ashes would remain.