From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Feb 19 01:17:07 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher AECDH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 354B6EC4; Thu, 19 Feb 2015 01:17:07 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail.karels.net (mail.karels.net [63.231.190.5]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C37F098; Thu, 19 Feb 2015 01:17:06 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail.karels.net (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mail.karels.net (8.14.7/8.14.7) with ESMTP id t1J1GxAw028289; Wed, 18 Feb 2015 19:16:59 -0600 (CST) (envelope-from mike@karels.net) Message-Id: <201502190116.t1J1GxAw028289@mail.karels.net> To: Kim Shrier From: Mike Karels Reply-to: mike@karels.net Subject: Re: default pager (csh) In-reply-to: Your message of Wed, 18 Feb 2015 17:27:59 -0700. <021CBC62-4CC6-4137-897E-FE482139E09B@westryn.net> Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2015 19:16:59 -0600 Cc: Davide Italiano , FreeBSD Hackers , freebsd-current X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18-1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2015 01:17:07 -0000 Kim Shrier wrote: > > On Feb 18, 2015, at 4:41 PM, Xin Li wrote: > > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > > Hash: SHA512 > > > > On 02/18/15 15:18, Davide Italiano wrote: > >> Hi, one of the first things I do when I install FreeBSD is to > >> switch the default PAGER from more(1) to less(1). This is > >> particularly convenient, e.g. while using git diff, to show > >> something more readable. Just out of curiosity, is there a reason > >> why more(1) is still the default, and/or is this just historical? > > > > The _only_ reason that I can think of is that more(1) does not clear > > screen for certain terminals (done with 'ti' and 'te' sequences), > > while less(1) when running as less does. > > > > The less(1) behavior can be annoying to some people (sometimes even > > myself when using less to show contents of a file and ^Z to paste > > them), and unfortunately quite a few of them also happen to be the > > more vocal ones when it comes to a change. > > > Being one of those people who strongly prefer using more, I vote > against this change. Also, it is easier to scroll back in a terminal > window using more. Every system I use, if it defaults the PAGER > to less, I change it to more. I think the defaults of both programs on FreeBSD are suboptimal. I prefer more with MORE=-eF, which fixes the man page issue mentioned earlier. This is clearly a personal preference item; we won't get it "right" for everyone. However, anyone who can use git can definitely switch pagers. Trivia: the version of more on BSD systems actually is derived from less, not the original version of more. Mike