[TxMt] Addendum (Was: Problems with b5 and services menu / BOM ...)

[Christian Bogen]

Am 10.03.2005 um 23:55 schrieb Christian Bogen:
> Am 10.03.2005 um 23:09 schrieb Allan Odgaard:
>> Well, I'd add options to the GUI, which I try to keep to a minimum, 
>> I'd add code to my source base which adds complexity and requires 
>> maintenance/testing, and I'd send a signal that UTF-8 files 
>> can/should have BOM, which I really think they shouldn't.

I got curious and poked around a bit: It seems that in UTF-8 files the 
BOM can be harmfull (in a way) after all:

> Q: Can a UTF-8 data stream contain the BOM character (in UTF-8 form)? 
> If yes, then can I still assume the remaining UTF-8 bytes are in 
> big-endian order?
>
> A: Yes, UTF-8 can contain a BOM. However, it makes no difference as to 
> the endianness of the byte stream. UTF-8 always has the same byte 
> order. An initial BOM is only used as a signature — an indication that 
> an otherwise unmarked text file is in UTF-8. Note that some recipients 
> of UTF-8 encoded data do not expect a BOM. Where UTF-8 is used 
> transparently in 8-bit environments, the use of a BOM will interfere 
> with any protocol or file format that expects specific ASCII 
> characters at the beginning, such as the use of "#!" of at the 
> beginning of Unix shell scripts.  [AF] & [MD]
<http://www.unicode.org/faq/utf_bom.html#29>

So I guess not setting it should remain the default, whether it's 
setting is available as an option or not. Of course allowing for 
manipulation of the BOM would also make it easier to remove it if 
necessary (in a more convenient way than transferring the file contents 
to a new empty file via copy & paste).
But, admittedly, that's probably not an important feature ... ;-)

>> No, it shouldn't. But there's an external service that gives you an 
>> “Edit in TextMate…” in the services menu, it can be downloaded here: 
>> http://macromates.com/textmate/files/TextMate.service.zip

Just something that caught my attention while being happy about the 
TM.service: It's greyed out when I select text existing mails in 
Mail.app, seems to work only when composing new ones (ie. in the mail 
editor). Is that a bug or a feature? (I frequently grab text out of 
mails for further work in a text editor.)

Christian