Two space indentation displays incorrectly in diff

[Brad Davis]

On 10/7/07, Max Laier <max at love2party.net> wrote:
> On Monday 08 October 2007, Chess Griffin wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I am working on some more doc diffs to submit and I am paying careful
> > attention to the FDP Primer.  The problem is that when I insert a
> > two space indent after the first line of a <para>, it shows up as 1
> > space when I create the diff -u.
> >
> > This is in my .vimrc:
> >
> > autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead *.sgml,*.ent,*.html,*.tex,*.xsl set
> > autoindent formatoptions=tcq2l textwidth=70 shiftwidth=2
> > softtabstop=2 tabstop=8
> >
> > When I edit the sgml, it looks ok:
> >
> >     <sect2 id="consoles-vidcontrol">
> >       <title>Changing Console Video Modes</title>
> >
> >       <para>The FreeBSD console default video mode may be adjusted to
> >         1024x768, 1280x1024, or any other size supported by your
> >         graphics chip and monitor.  To use a different video mode, you
> >         must first recompile your kernel and include two additional
> >         options:</para>
> >
> > But in the diff it looks like this:
> >
> > +    <sect2 id="consoles-vidcontrol">
> > +      <title>Changing Console Video Modes</title>
> > +
> > +      <para>The FreeBSD console default video mode may be adjusted to
> > +       1024x768, 1280x1024, or any other size supported by your
> > +       graphics chip and monitor.  To use a different video mode, you
> > +       must first recompile your kernel and include two additional
> > +       options:</para>
> >
> > It appears that there is only a one space indent after the first <para>
> > line.
> >
> > I also did ":set list" on the diff and it looks like this:
> >
> > +    <sect2 id="consoles-vidcontrol">$
> > +      <title>Changing Console Video Modes</title>$
> > +$
> > +      <para>The FreeBSD console default video mode may be adjusted to$
> > +^I1024x768, 1280x1024, or any other size supported by your$
> > +^Igraphics chip and monitor.  To use a different video mode, you$
> > +^Imust first recompile your kernel and include two additional$
> > +^Ioptions:</para>$
> >
> > I am stumped as to why this occurs or how to fix it.
>
> Obviously vim in converting the 8 spaces into one tab.  When displayed
> this turns into "indentation to the first tabstop (=8)" which means only
> and indentation of 7 is visible (deducting the plus sign).
>
> I don't know how to teach vim not to do the conversion and I don't know if
> that might even be the right formatting, but I hope this helps.
>
> > When the diff is applied to the original source, it comes
> > out fine, so maybe it's ok?
> >
> > Any advice from expert vimmers would be greatly appreciated.

Try this:

" When off, a <Tab> always inserts blanks according to 'tabstop'.
set nosmarttab


Regards,
Brad Davis