File content types and line delimiters

The operating systems that Jazz source control supports observe different conventions for writing line delimiters in text files. Utilities and applications on Linux® and the UNIX® system normally terminate lines with a single <LF> (line feed, or new line) character; Windows® utilities and applications terminate lines with a two-character <CR><LF> (carriage return, line feed) character sequence.

Differences in line-delimiter conventions can create problems in text files that are edited on computers running different supported operating systems. For example, a file that contains

abc
def
ghi

Would look like this if it were created by a Windows editor such as Notepad and read by a Linux or UNIX system-based editor such as vi:

abc^M
def^M
ghi^M

The text editor on the Linux or UNIX system renders the <CR> character as ^M. The same file would look like this if it were created by the system editor on Linux or the UNIX system and read by the Windows editor:

abc■def■ghi

How Jazz source control determines a line delimiter to use

By default, when you share a project or check in a newly-created file, Jazz source control examines the content and sets the file's line delimiter property to the value Platform. (If the file appears to be a binary file or has an inconsistent set of line delimiters, its line delimiter property is set to none (binary).) When you load a file with Platform line delimiter property into a local workspace, Jazz source control determines the file's MIME content type and sets the line delimiter to match the platform convention for that content type.

Jazz source control includes a file properties wizard that you can use when you need to change the line delimiter property of one or more files or specify a line delimiter convention to apply to a category of files (based on file name suffix). For more information, see Using the File Properties wizard.