bug#11187: fmt: doesn't understand multibyte characters (UTF-8)

"Dmitry E. Oboukhov" <[email protected]> Fri, 6 Mar 2026 03:56:57 +0300

Newsgroups	gmane.comp.gnu.core-utils.bugs
Message-ID	<aaomWaQvNEYjioh-@nbw>

To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: bug#11187: fmt: doesn't understand multibyte characters (UTF-8)

> What, and introduce copyright violations left and right...

Step out of your shell of snobbery for once. Don’t be afraid—ask the
AI: "Who will own the rights to the --unicode option if you write it?"
You might be surprised by the answer! 

P.S. Yes, AI will soon take your job, and perhaps even your life
(ha-ha), but rest assured, your precious copyrights will remain yours
until the very end.

> ...you vented frustration to the maintainers... not on the AI

When I see a bug, I report it. Sometimes I even provide patches. But
here, I saw that a patch was already prepared fourteen years ago. What
else was I supposed to do but vent my regret at the snobs who refused
to accept it?

And no, don't hide behind the "obsolescence" of fmt. Two or five years
ago, you might have had a point. But now, you have a new, massive user
base: AI agents. This user is more than capable of creating that patch
for you. Ask it—overcome your fear. Perhaps you’ll even manage to
commit it before World War III? 

Who knows, maybe it will count for something during the negotiations
after humanity’s surrender to the Crystalline Intelligence... They
might remember your one kind act and take pity on the poor
"carbon-based" humans.

Best regards,
A herald of the new era.

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