this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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Linux

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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  • Linus Torvalds added hidden tabs to Kconfig to challenge parsers that can't handle them.
  • Tabs were intentionally added to the common Kconfig file for page sizes to expose faulty parsers.
  • Torvalds believes parsers unable to handle tabs shouldn't be parsing kernel Kconfig files, aiming to force fixes.
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[–] [email protected] 98 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Why would anyone NOT parse a tab as whitespace? Like, python really wants you to use spaces but will still let you use tabs if you are consistent.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 months ago

There's the .tsv format too.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Even then, unless for some reason you code on paper, there is no excuse to not have a formatter, that enforces one style, or the other