[avrdude-dev] Re: avrdude-dev Digest, Vol 19, Issue 5

[Lou Cypher]

Hello,

> What's *not* OK on Unix though is the Windowism to force a file open
> mode into being text mode by "ra" and such.  The C standard implies
> that a simple "r" will always open it in text mode unless the trailing
> "b" is specified.  (Thus, the Windows option to default the open mode
> to binary is fundamentally incompatible with the standard.  But if
> you're Bill Gates you don't have to care about standards.)

I didn't understand the above: why should a Windows compiler force a binary 
mode on a fopen( ..., "r")?
What mode should be "ra"?

Lou