From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Results of C-x C-q poll Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2002 13:46:07 -0600 (MDT) Sender: emacs-devel-admin@gnu.org Message-ID: <200207021946.g62Jk7802027@aztec.santafe.edu> References: <1025459292.4840.7.camel@eagle> <200207011410.g61EA9n07810@aztec.santafe.edu> <5xvg7zrw6f.fsf@kfs2.cua.dk> Reply-To: rms@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: localhost.gmane.org X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1025640958 15868 127.0.0.1 (2 Jul 2002 20:15:58 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2002 20:15:58 +0000 (UTC) Cc: spiegel@gnu.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1 (Debian)) id 17PU45-00047p-00 for ; Tue, 02 Jul 2002 22:15:57 +0200 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([199.232.76.164]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 17PU9G-0003kX-00 for ; Tue, 02 Jul 2002 22:21:18 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=fencepost.gnu.org) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 3.34 #1 (Debian)) id 17PU3J-0001ml-00; Tue, 02 Jul 2002 16:15:09 -0400 Original-Received: from delysid.gnu.org ([158.121.106.20]) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 3.34 #1 (Debian)) id 17PU0M-0001L9-00; Tue, 02 Jul 2002 16:12:06 -0400 Original-Received: from pele.santafe.edu ([192.12.12.119]) by delysid.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 3.34 #2) id 17PTlj-00047X-00; Tue, 02 Jul 2002 15:56:59 -0400 Original-Received: from aztec.santafe.edu (aztec [192.12.12.49]) by pele.santafe.edu (8.11.6+Sun/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g62Jk9B10858; Tue, 2 Jul 2002 13:46:09 -0600 (MDT) Original-Received: (from rms@localhost) by aztec.santafe.edu (8.10.2+Sun/8.9.3) id g62Jk7802027; Tue, 2 Jul 2002 13:46:07 -0600 (MDT) X-Authentication-Warning: aztec.santafe.edu: rms set sender to rms@aztec using -f Original-To: storm@cua.dk In-Reply-To: <5xvg7zrw6f.fsf@kfs2.cua.dk> (storm@cua.dk) Errors-To: emacs-devel-admin@gnu.org X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.11 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Emacs development discussions. List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:5354 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:5354 More than half of those who responded prefer the existing behaviour, so I don't see how removing the functionality will satify their wishes. Each alternative, including the status quo, was disliked by more than half the respondents. People advanced various reasons for what they liked or disliked, showing us various kinds of problems in various situations. These problems are all different--they have different severity. The point here is to choose something that leaves the smallest remaining problems, and in fewer cases. The solution I stated appears to be that. In years of experience I've found that "let's give the user an option" often acts as an easy way out, a way to avoid thinking hard about doing the right thing by default. Therefore I'm on guard against it; I resist the pressure and insist on continuing to work on a good default that will mean not so many people need to customize it. In this case, "make it configurable" is not just a way of avoiding the issue, it is a no-op. This is already configurable; you can bind C-x C-q to toggle-read-only or vc-toggle-read-only. Providing a good default is the only issue here.