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Date:      Sun, 21 May 2000 19:11:44 -0400
From:      Tim Vanderhoek <vanderh@ecf.utoronto.ca>
To:        Mike Smith <msmith@freebsd.org>
Cc:        Brian Fundakowski Feldman <green@freebsd.org>, cvs-committers@freebsd.org, cvs-all@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: cvs commit: src/usr.bin/more prim.c
Message-ID:  <20000521191144.B11540@mad>
In-Reply-To: <200005212228.PAA01386@mass.cdrom.com>; from Mike Smith on Sun, May 21, 2000 at 03:28:23PM -0700
References:  <Pine.BSF.4.21.0005211805270.54798-100000@green.dyndns.org> <200005212228.PAA01386@mass.cdrom.com>

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On Sun, May 21, 2000 at 03:28:23PM -0700, Mike Smith wrote:
> > that it doesn't help.  It's also undocumented... maybe we should look
> > at what some of the other pagers do?
> 
> Import less (like the other BSDs have done).  There are a few cases where 
> we might want to interpret arguments differently if called as more, but 
> again this ground has already been broken, and trying to maintain our 
> bastard more is just a pointless exercise.

GNU less's horizontal scrolling (really) sucks and it doesn't
support gtags.  It also has this amazingly disgusting hack called
lesskey(1).  We have some other minor technical advantages with a
line numbering bugfix and improved ctags support.

That said, GNU less has better internationalization, which is something
we really need.  It also has far more features than more will
ever have.  This is either good or bad, depending on your POV.

All I will say on the less(1) vs. more(1) issue is the following quote
from a private email I sent earlier.  I've already got into one fight
after being accused by certain BSD die-hards of trying to turn our
more(1) into less(1).  I'm going to avoid this one.

[quote follows]

> So, I'm keen to see what your reaction would be..  I realize you've taken
> more(1) under your wing, but I'm curious about your fixes and enhancements
> - is it stuff that is already working under less?  Could you perhaps be
> convinced to be a caretaker of a dual-mode less?

My preference is for our existing more(1), but that's a soft
preference, so you don't need to worry about me pulling out a
flamethrower if less is imported.  :-)

I seem to remember obrien is one of the biggest less boosters.  He can
handle imports just fine, and that is about all the "caretaking"
needed, since less is maintained externally.

[end quote]

That summarizes in a single paragraph the advantages and disadvantages
of GNU's pager.


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