GNU bug report logs - #22081
24.5; netrc.el fails parsing authinfo items spread over multiple lines

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From: Andy Moreton <andrewjmoreton <at> gmail.com>
To: 22081 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#22081: 24.5; netrc.el fails parsing authinfo items spread over multiple lines
Date: Mon, 07 Dec 2015 14:14:13 +0000

On Sat 05 Dec 2015, Ted Zlatanov wrote:

> On Fri, 04 Dec 2015 14:25:00 +0000 Andy Moreton <andrewjmoreton <at> gmail.com> wrote: 
> My more important point was that there's no standard (or library) for
> parsing netrc files. In particular, quoting is not specified as I
> mentioned. The BSD spec is ambiguous and allowing multi-line entries
> would not serve any practical purpose.

The spec clearly defines that tokens are separated with SPACE TAB or
NEWLINE, which seems unambiguous to me. Multi-line entries are an
inherent part of the file format, and are useful for readable layout.
For an example, see:
    http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/taoup/html/ch10s03.html

It's perfectly ok to parse an extended version of the file format which
allows for quoting and escaping mechanisms, but not if it is done is a way
which is incompatible with reasonable and well formed existing files.

Disallowing NEWLINE as a token separator means you are not parsing an
extension of the existing format, but something incompatible with it.
That's fine as it offers useful features, but it should use a different
file name to make it clear that it is not the same format.

    AndyM

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