Hi.

Current state of the compiler:
The fpc option 'transparent file names in ISO mode' (-Sr) implies the file 
extension ‘.txt’ for text files. While this is fine for windows-like OSes, it 
is less suited for unixoids and others. Think ‘README’ and the like. The 
extension ‘.dat’ as default is out there as well, admittedly on more rare and 
outdated OSes. But other Pascal compilers (P2..6, gpc) do not use any file 
extension for transparent file names.

Specific use case:
Delila (http://users.fred.net/tds/lab/software.html) is a large set of 
ISO-Pascal programs and scripts, which heavily relies on transparent file names 
WITHOUT file name extensions. Although it started long time ago, it is still in 
use and gets cited in recent publications. 
So far, other Pascal compilers have been used, but their support of OSes 
becomes more and more limited. The multi platform support of fpc favors a 
transition, but this issue would require lots of rewrites and is the major road 
block of the transition.

Suggestion:
Change the default of the option ‘-Sr' to no file extension and use -Sr<x> to 
pass a specific file extension, like .txt, .dat or anything else.

Regards - Michael Schindler.

_______________________________________________
fpc-devel maillist  -  [email protected]
https://lists.freepascal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fpc-devel

Reply via email to