MANSFIEL@EMBL.BITNET (Niall Mansfield) (10/31/86)
Marty Sasaki gave two reasons for stream_lf files not being a Good Thing. On the other hand:- 1. > The second reason ... > If you create a file in stream_lf with no lf as the last > character in the last record and you pass the file through the PL/1 > compiler, RMS does a bugcheck and blows the process away. You can get over inadvertent errors of this type by ensuring the variable require-final-newline is 't'. 2. One reason why you might really want stream files is if you are using C and want to get proper random access into your file with the standard library functions. ftell() and fseek() behave HORRIBLY on record files, e.g. ftell() always points to the beginning of the current record, not to the current byte offset. Programs using these functions, (e.g. 'etags' for Emacs, 'dvi2ps' TeX to PostScript converter) just won't work properly UNLESS the file IS stream. So, maybe stream files are only good or bad for you depending on what you work with most of the time.