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Re: Editor Priorities



On Wed, May 08, 2002 at 05:10:49PM -0000, m@moshez.org wrote:
> > It is unix tradition to use $VISUAL,$EDITOR,vi
> 
> It is a Debian tradition not to.
> Can you say when was the last release Debian's /usr/bin/editor
> was "vi" on installation?
> However, certainly "Is a vi clone" is a criterion, and I'll add
> it to my list.

You should add it to your list - as a subtraction!  (This from a vim user,
BTW...)  C'mon, our priority is our users here, and that includes our new
users.  While an experineced unix hand is likely to have VISUAL set to nvi
or vim already, "Debian Linux User" really should be using something like
nano, like it or not.

vi is a good thing once you know how to use it, but until you learn it is
outright fucking hard to figure out.  emacs isn't much better.  If it were
better behaved, joe might work in a pinch.  But nano is perfect.  It's
small, free, described under another silly name in just about every new
user to unix/linux book in existance, and any idiot can figure it out even
without said books.  Whatever other options are there, nano needs to come
out as the editor of choice for a user who hasn't picked something better.

OTOH, it's not extremely functional in and of itself.  I am hoping the
nano creators may be willing to add a few more useful features to it in
the future, even if they are not on the help at the bottom.

-- 
Joseph Carter <knghtbrd@bluecherry.net>               Crazy in the coconut
 
<zpx> it's amazing how "not-broken" debian is compared to slack and rh

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