Re: bug in cat 5.3.0 (cygwin) on XP SP2

[Tristan Savatier]

in fact, i was wrong, the bug appears to be on our linux server, but it is
triggered when a file contains a DOS-type ^M character before a \n.

apparently when 'cat' encounters one ^M it goes in a mode where it adds ^M
before any \n, even if the original file did *not* have those.

weired.

i was expecting "cat file1 file2 file3" to just cat the files "as-is", not 
to add a character at the end of some lines of some files.

the bug is the same with less, more, etc, and i observed it on a very recent
and up-to-date linux box (not sure exactly what kernel, but it's a red-hat).

I can provide you some sample files that cause the problem.

It took me a while to find out because apparently, emacs does not display 
the ^M when it is at the end the last line of a file (I have such an 
example).

-t

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eric Blake" <address@hidden>
To: "Tristan Savatier" <address@hidden>
Cc: <address@hidden>
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 5:33 AM
Subject: Re: bug in cat 5.3.0 (cygwin) on XP SP2


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>
> According to Tristan Savatier on 5/18/2005 4:39 PM:
> > when 'cat' is passed several text files as parameters, it will add the
> > invisible control character '^M' at the end of each lines of each file
> > except the first file.
>
> Cygwin line-ending problems should probably first be discussed on
> cygwin<at>cygwin<dot>com.  Furthermore, it works just fine for me (I don't
> think there is a bug, either in the cygwin distribution or upstream in
> this list), it is probably a question of whether your files live on a text
> mount, and whether they already had ^M's to begin with.  emacs has the
> nice habit of suppressing ^M if EVERY line of the file has it (DOS mode),
> but when only some lines have it (those lines from file2 and file3, but
> not the lines from file1), you are in mixed mode and emacs reversts to
> unix display.  Also, commands such as d2u are your friend when working
> with mixed line ending machines.
>
> - --
> Life is short - so eat dessert first!
>
> Eric Blake             address@hidden
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