>  | that's a neat use of this "function" but imho, it's not that much of a
>  | feature and looks more like a bug.
>
>I can assure you it is not a bug - it was planned that way.

okay.

>Thinking about it since my last message, there is perhaps a
>simple compromise that will suit most people - that is, a very
>elementary quoting mechanism that is trivial to code.
>...

that's...an interesting idea.  although i'd suggest that it really
*should* check for the closing quote, since otherwise things like

    #!/bin/echo '

won't work as they used to.  then again, since things are pretty much
guaranteed not to work as they used to, i guess it's a non-issue.

>  |     #!/bin/sh - # -*-Lisp-*-
>  | 
>  | and get lisp mode when i'm using emacs.
>
>Ugh.
>
>Even though I know less about emacs than almost anything on
>the planet, it is true that that dead end hint line dosesn't
>have to be first isn't it?  That is
>
>	#! /bin/sh
>	# -*-Lisp-*-
>
>would work, wouldn't it.   If so, just use it, it is far more portable.

yep.  that works.  but if you download something and start editing it,
that will be one thing you'll have to change.

>  | that was me...and i figured that the symlink loop protection mechanism
>  | would be applicable in a similar way to this.
>
>Unless it has changed in the past few years, the symlink protection
>mechanism is a total crock.

i can't say whether it's changed or not (and not commenting on the
alleged crock), but it certainly protects people from making messes of
47 symlinks that lead to a file, or symlinks that point to themselves.

-- 
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