bug#24625: 26.0.50; Local variables list at beginning of a file

bug#24625: 26.0.50; Local variables list at beginning of a file

[marcowahlsoft]

Hi!

This a feature request.

Feature: A local variables list can be put near the beginning of a file
and gets interpreted when the file gets loaded.  (Completely analogue to
the behavior of the local variables list near the bottom of a file.)


Best regards,
-- 
Marco Wahl

bug#24625: 26.0.50; Local variables list at beginning of a file

[Stefan Kangas]

marcowahlsoft@gmail.com writes:

> This a feature request.
>
> Feature: A local variables list can be put near the beginning of a file
> and gets interpreted when the file gets loaded.  (Completely analogue to
> the behavior of the local variables list near the bottom of a file.)

Thank you for suggesting this feature.

I think this would unduly slow down opening of files, and the benefit
is not clear since we also have the "-*- ... -*-" line.  I would
therefore suggest to not implement this feature.

Does anyone else have an opinion here?

Best regards,
Stefan Kangas

bug#24625: 26.0.50; Local variables list at beginning of a file

[Marco Wahl]

Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se> writes:

> marcowahlsoft@gmail.com writes:
>
>> This a feature request.
>>
>> Feature: A local variables list can be put near the beginning of a
>> file
>> and gets interpreted when the file gets loaded.  (Completely
>> analogue to
>> the behavior of the local variables list near the bottom of a file.)
>
> Thank you for suggesting this feature.
>
> I think this would unduly slow down opening of files, and the benefit
> is not clear since we also have the "-*- ... -*-" line.  I would
> therefore suggest to not implement this feature.
>
> Does anyone else have an opinion here?

For people who want to keep the first line short this feature could
help.

Possibly of interest:

My motivation asking for this feature was local variables at the bottom
of outline/Org files.  In my experience for those kind of files, which
typically consist of some trees, it is rather difficult to keep
something (here the local variables) at the bottom.  Too easily a
further tree gets appended at the end of the file or the trees in the
file get sorted.  On the other hand the top of those kind of files stays
relatively static.

bug#24625: 26.0.50; Local variables list at beginning of a file

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Marco Wahl <marcowahlsoft@gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2019 11:42:19 +0100
> Cc: 24625@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> For people who want to keep the first line short this feature could
> help.
> 
> Possibly of interest:
> 
> My motivation asking for this feature was local variables at the bottom
> of outline/Org files.  In my experience for those kind of files, which
> typically consist of some trees, it is rather difficult to keep
> something (here the local variables) at the bottom.  Too easily a
> further tree gets appended at the end of the file or the trees in the
> file get sorted.  On the other hand the top of those kind of files stays
> relatively static.

If this is for Org, perhaps Org could have its own private feature?

In general, having the variables at the beginning will get in the way
of reading the file's contents by humans: you will first need to skip
the variables' section and wonder what does that do there.

bug#24625: 26.0.50; Local variables list at beginning of a file

[Stefan Kangas]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> For people who want to keep the first line short this feature could
>> help.
>> 
>> Possibly of interest:
>> 
>> My motivation asking for this feature was local variables at the bottom
>> of outline/Org files.  In my experience for those kind of files, which
>> typically consist of some trees, it is rather difficult to keep
>> something (here the local variables) at the bottom.  Too easily a
>> further tree gets appended at the end of the file or the trees in the
>> file get sorted.  On the other hand the top of those kind of files stays
>> relatively static.

I usually set up a header like the following at the end of the
file:

* org-mode configuration    :noexport:
#+STARTUP: content hidestars indent
# Local Variables:
# ispell-local-dictionary: "swedish"
# End:

That avoids accidentally exporting the header or moving it
around.  YMMV.

> If this is for Org, perhaps Org could have its own private feature?

Org already has this for various settings, but not for arbitrary Lisp
variables.  Perhaps someone could suggest to add missing options to
the org mode developer.

> In general, having the variables at the beginning will get in the way
> of reading the file's contents by humans: you will first need to skip
> the variables' section and wonder what does that do there.

Agreed.

Best regards,
Stefan Kangas

bug#24625: 26.0.50; Local variables list at beginning of a file

[Marco Wahl]

Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se> writes:

> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>
>>> For people who want to keep the first line short this feature could
>>> help.
>>> 
>>> Possibly of interest:
>>> 
>>> My motivation asking for this feature was local variables at the bottom
>>> of outline/Org files.  In my experience for those kind of files, which
>>> typically consist of some trees, it is rather difficult to keep
>>> something (here the local variables) at the bottom.  Too easily a
>>> further tree gets appended at the end of the file or the trees in the
>>> file get sorted.  On the other hand the top of those kind of files stays
>>> relatively static.
>
> I usually set up a header like the following at the end of the
> file:
>
> * org-mode configuration    :noexport:
>
> #+STARTUP: content hidestars indent
> # Local Variables:
>
> # ispell-local-dictionary: "swedish"
> # End:
>
> That avoids accidentally exporting the header or moving it
> around.  YMMV.

Thanks for this idea..

>> If this is for Org, perhaps Org could have its own private feature?
>
> Org already has this for various settings, but not for arbitrary Lisp
> variables.  Perhaps someone could suggest to add missing options to
> the org mode developer.

Good idea, I think.  Possibly I'll try to go down that (Org) path if the
issue bothers me again.

>> In general, having the variables at the beginning will get in the way
>> of reading the file's contents by humans: you will first need to skip
>> the variables' section and wonder what does that do there.
>
> Agreed.

Agreed.

Possibly it's time to close bug#24625.


Thanks all!

bug#24625: 26.0.50; Local variables list at beginning of a file

[Stefan Kangas]

Marco Wahl <marcowahlsoft@gmail.com> writes:

> Possibly it's time to close bug#24625.

No further comments within 3 weeks, so I'm closing this bug report.

Best regards,
Stefan Kangas