I want Vim to store file the way it got them - so that VCS control systems don't show that something changed all lines within a file. set binary should be enough. But apparently its not ?
Only if you also read the file using 'binary' (++bin). And then you'll see ^M at the end of all your lines (and have to add it to any new lines you add). Far from ideal.
Actually, you should normally not set binary to write back what was read. 'endoffile' is the exception, and that's because a decent text file must end with a LF. Vim fixes that for you (it always has). If other tools omit that LF you need to fix those tools, not Vim.
This 'decent text file' is the Unix way of viewing things. A lot of people on DOS/Windows view \r\n not so much as end-of-line, but as line-break. In this view (and I agree with Bram that it is inferior :-)) it is correct for files not to end with \r\n. In my opinion, this war is not going to be resolved, certainly not by trying to push the point with Vim. And it is a difference in opinion we are dealing with here, not files that are truly and uncontentiously broken. And even if it were the case that you could 'prove' other tools were broken, not all tools are open source and readily fixable; some vendors will simply not fix them. IMHO, It would be better to change Vim to allow it to easily deal with files missing a final end-of-line without 'fixing' them, even if this is not the default option setting. It should at least be easily possible, which currently it isn't. Ben. -- You received this message from the "vim_use" maillist. Do not top-post! Type your reply below the text you are replying to. For more information, visit http://www.vim.org/maillist.php
