> No, you got it wrong: One can open a file as a text file or as binary file:

in fact, rainer (as one would expect, given his background) has got it
right.

you (as always) are dragging irrelevancies into the discussion, and
adding nothing whatever to the discussion of the development of latex.

please desist.  your issues would be well-dealt with in some
programming language or operating system forum.  latex-l is neither.