@setfilename standards.info
@settitle GNU Coding Standards
@c This date is automagically updated when you save this file:
-@set lastupdate March 19, 2014
+@set lastupdate March 31, 2014
@c %**end of header
@dircategory GNU organization
is useful with output to a terminal, and have an option for the other
behavior.
+There is an exception for programs whose output in certain cases is
+binary data. Sending such output to a terminal is useless and can
+cause trouble. If such a program normally sends its output to stdout,
+it should detect, in these cases, when the output is a terminal and
+give an error message instead. The @code{-f} option should override
+this exception, thus permitting the output to go to the terminal.
+
Compatibility requires certain programs to depend on the type of output
device. It would be disastrous if @code{ls} or @code{sh} did not do so
in the way all users expect. In some of these cases, we supplement the
like @code{ls} except that its default output format is always
multi-column format.
-
@node Graphical Interfaces
@section Standards for Graphical Interfaces
@cindex graphical user interface