Seems it's not so much that source files must end in a newline, but lines must end in a newline[1]. As to why, I imagine that it makes it easier for line-orient

Seems it's not so much that source files must end in a newline, but lines must end in a newline[1]. As to why, I imagine that it makes it easier for line-oriented tools to not have to special-case files where the last line doesn't end in \n [1] https://gcc.gnu.org/legacy-ml/gcc/2003-11/msg01568.html https://gcc.gnu.org/legacy-ml/gcc/2003-11/msg01568.html