[rfc-i] tabs [was: sourcecode indentation]

[pkyzivat at alum.mit.edu (Paul Kyzivat)]

On 2/16/16 10:36 AM, Paul Hoffman wrote:
> On 16 Feb 2016, at 6:30, Tony Hansen wrote:
>
>>> On Feb 16, 2016, at 1:14 AM, Joe Hildebrand (jhildebr)
>>> <jhildebr at cisco.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I think the current situation is pretty close to 2119's "SHOULD NOT".
>>>  You SHOULD NOT put a tab character in <sourcecode>, unless it is
>>> absolutely required in the target language.  To deal with this, we
>>> could add a tabs="true" attribute to <sourcecode>, and give an error
>>> if there's an unintended tab character.
>>
>> A light tweak would be tabs="8" if tabs are present and to be allowed,
>> and error if tabs is not defined.
>>
>>> Alternately, we could just say that tab-encrusted Makefile's aren't
>>> supported in an RFC, and always throw an error on tabs.  Tabs can be
>>> worked around in GNU make
>>> (https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Special-Variables.html):
>>>
>>>
>>> .RECIPEPREFIX = >
>>> all:
>>>> @echo Hello, world
>>
>> Interesting.
>
> +1 to "no tabs allowed at all", given that the only example given so far
> is makefiles and we have now seen why they are not needed.

+1