Re: [PATCH] help: colorize man pages

From: Felipe Contreras <felipe.contreras@gmail.com>
Date: May 21, 2021, 18:09 UTC
Message-ID: <60a7f7427eab6_55039208ba@natae.notmuch>
In-Reply-To: <YKcFrbuuJrWAxXgm@camp.crustytoothpaste.net>

brian m. carlson wrote:

Show 11 quoted lines

> On 2021-05-19 at 08:41:44, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:
> > It also doesn't seem to me to satisfy their FAQ point #1, i.e. users who
> > actually want no color at all can just set TERM=dumb, and we support
> > that. The proposed patch is the same as having TERM=dumb set.
> > 
> > This NO_COLOR=1 actually means something like "I do support colors, so
> > show them if it's important, but don't color things willy-nilly".
> 
> I don't agree.  The way I read it is that it means that if your program
> receives colored input, it is not obligated to strip it out, but it is
> obligated not to add any.

The very example they give says otherwise:

  It is reasonable to configure certain software such as a text editor
  to use color

They are saying a text editor adding color is *fine*.

> NO_COLOR=1 says, "I don't want color, but I have a fully functional
> terminal I would like to use, thank you."

That's not what it says.

> In other words, I think in this case, the user has opted to configure
> their editor as they like it and invoke it without NO_COLOR, but has
> instructed other programs to not add color with NO_COLOR.

That is a reasonable interpretation... until you read the next answer:

  A user should be able to export $NO_COLOR in their shell configuration
  file as a default, but configure a specific program in its
  configuration file to specifically enable color.

The whole point is not to configure each program to disable color, but have a global NO_COLOR.

So I don't think your interpretation is correct.

-- 
Felipe Contreras