bug#26422: historical feature or grand daddy bug?

[Kyle Sallee]

By the sort program
when a file is sorted
the lines which start with line feed
output earlier than lines which begin with tab.

Tab ASCII value is 9.
LF  ASCII value is 10.
Tabs should be first?

However, to strings
if the lines are converted
then to mitigate a larger address space
presumably with 0 the LF are replaced.
Yet after the LF if the 0 byte was placed
then the expected output would become.

If expected behavior becomes
then historical behavior relied upon scripts might break.

The sort.c source code was not viewed.
Therefore, a patch is not offered.
Discussion is solicited.
Concerning empty lines first.
Is it a bug?
Should it be fixed?

Because I am not on the email list;
if the topic is worth discussion
if a decision is made
then please forward.
Thanks for maintaining and sharing awesome software.