Re: configure --help has incorrectly formatted help

[Paul Eggert]

> From: Akim Demaille <address@hidden>
> Date: 24 Oct 2001 14:09:49 +0200
> 
> Paul>   * It looks equally nice with varying-width fonts.  This is
> Paul> becoming more important with time (e.g. GNU Emacs 21).
> 
> Hm, I would not use `nice' in the sentence, but I agree on `equally' :)
> Are you actually using non fixed fonts for programming/terms?

Sure.  I've been doing it for twenty years in some contexts.
It's long been the tradition in the Smalltalk world, for example.

C is older and (like Cobol and Fortran) the tradition is fixed-width.
I have used C with varying-width fonts with some success, though never
with the GNU indenting style (which isn't quite right for
varying-width fonts).

Regardless of the language used for writing code, though, our
diagnostics should not assume fixed-width terminals.  Diagnostics are
meant for users, not C programmers.  And more and more, users will be
using varying-width fonts.

> Paul>   * You don't have to respond to bug reports about stuff not
> Paul> lining up.  (:-)
> 
> Really?  No one ever complained to you?

I think that two people have complained in five years.  Maybe three.
I think I responded in one or cases (but I didn't _have_ to respond  :-).

It's not a big deal, really.