Re: Bug in Custom

[Luc Teirlinck <teirllm@dms.auburn.edu>]

Chong Yidong wrote:

   As I explained before, it was Richard who, some time last year,
   decided that disabling Custom themes will bring back old values set
   outside of Customize; maybe you missed this explanation (or maybe you
   did not even read it).

No, I _did_ read that.  However, this does not mean that Richard also
decided that a consequence of that decision, the bug I reported (of
which I do not know whether you still consider it a feature), made
sense.  My best guess is that Richard did not realize that his
decision had this consequence.

When _new_ evidence emerges that a decision was bad, one has to be
willing to reconsider that decision.

The decision had bad consequences when applied to the user theme (the
bug I reported).  The consequences are bad for other Themes for the
same reasons.

As I already mentioned in my previous message, I believe that it would
be better if Themes did not override rogue values.  They do not
override values set by the user through Custom either.  Setting values
through Custom or outside Custom is a matter of what is most
convenient at the time and _not_ a statement of how important the
value is or how "sticky" it should be.

Custom users who see that Themes do not override values set by Custom
would be very surprised if they did override values the user set
outside Custom.  Many users will not even remember whether the values
they have set were last set using Custom or outside Custom.  Also even
when they remember how they set them (menubar, set-variable), they
might not even know whether that counts as set through Custom or not.

Sincerely,

Luc.