Re: [Docutils-develop] [PATCH 0/9] Allow literal tabs in reStructuredText

[Guenter M. <mi...@us...>]

Dear Jarret, dear Docutils developers,

thank you for the TAB patch set. A review/test is on my TODO list.

On 2023-10-31, Jarret "Jax" Renker via Docutils-develop wrote:
> On Tuesday, October 31st, 2023 at 1:49 PM, engelbert gruber <eng...@gm...> wrote:

>> * python discourages usage hardtabs and space mixing, because becomes
>>   painful (IMHO)

> Sure, but other languages, e.g. Makefile, mandate tabs and so do some
> styleguides.

I agree that there is a case for preserving TAB characters in literal
blocks and code blocks (in extension to what is already possible with
included files). 

>> * python philosophy : explicit is better then implicit ... would an
>>   option :hard-tabs: keep be more in line ?

> I'm fine with that.  I planned (re)using the tab_width option of
> docutils.conf (setting it to -1 preserves tabs, like its cousin does
> for the include directive) but introducing a new option is also ok.

The "tab-width" setting is also important to tell the "visible
indentation" of lines that start between tab stops:

"""\
* bullet list

\tThe nesting of this paragraph depends on the ``tab-width`` setting:
\tSecond paragraph of the first item with ``--tab-width 2``,
\tblock quote nested in first item with ``--tab-width`` > 2, but
\tblock quote following the list with ``--tab-width 1``.
"""
      
So we have the choice of

a)  tab-width: <positive integer>
    expand-tabs: <boolean>
    
b)  tab-width: <integer>  
       Negative values preserve TAB characters in "code"
       and "literal" blocks. Other TABs are expanded to abs(tab_width).
       
I prefer b), because it does not increase the number of settings 
and is compatible with the "include" directive's ``:tab-width:`` option.

Günter