bug#24594: 24.5; `variable-pitch-mode': accept FACE arg instead of hardcoding the face

[Noam Postavsky <npostavs@users.sourceforge.net>]

On Wed, Oct 5, 2016 at 11:51 AM, Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> wrote:
>> Why aren't the buffer-face-* commands sufficient?
>
> Which part of this is unclear: "I'm OK with eliminating
> `variable-pitch-mode' altogether.  I don't really see
> the point of a version of `buffer-face-mode' that is
> limited to one face."

It wasn't clear that this was a serious suggestion, since obviously
"remove this feature because *I* will never use it" isn't enough to
get a feature removed from Emacs.

>
> 2. Enhancement: Fix face `variable-pitch' so that it really
> limits customization of the attributes to variable-pitch
> faces.  That is the only justification for a face name
> that reflects particular attribute values: limit
> customization for those values.

Hmm, it looks like there is no way from lisp to tell if a face (or
font) is variable-pitch or not. Could be something useful to have in
and of itself.

>
> Again, the only reason to keep `variable-pitch-mode' and
> face `variable-pitch' is if you feel that we really need
> such things.  (I do not.)

Before deciding if something is really needed/wanted, we would have to
see what people use the feature for. You can't provide that
information since you don't use it.