> Because it becomes one more maintenance task we don't need.
There should be nothing to maintain, if it's done right.
> The linux kernel is a mess. There are a couple of hundred files
> with inconssistent mode lines. Most have none (and there are
> thousands).
So it sounds like they could benefit from a tool that ensured that
they would be kept consistent, and so that when it was decided that
changes needed to be made, the single tool (likely a 20-line Perl
program) would take care of it.
> So we're hardly alone in not doing it the way you're suggesting.
Sure, and I'm sure there are plenty of projects that do use them to
great effect, most notably Perl 5 and Parrot. Perl 5 specifically has
had the mish-mosh of tabs-vs-spaces reduced by the addition of
modelines.
xoa
--
Andy Lester => andy@petdance.com => www.theworkinggeek.com => AIM:petdance
