Re: [Emacs-diffs] trunk r116461: Connect electric-indent-mode up with CC Mode. Bug #15478.

[Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>]

Hello, Stefan.

On Mon, Mar 03, 2014 at 10:48:50PM -0500, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> > Using version numbers to check for features is not exactly clean coding.

> Much less hideous than checking how many times a function was called.

Uh??  Why are you comparing the checking of Emacs's version number with
testing whether a function has been called?

There lacks a clean way of determining if a minor-mode function has been
called.  There is a clear need for such a facility.

> > The default for electric-indent-mode is changed in a future Emacs
> > version.

> So it's hypothetical.  We'll cross this bridge if/when we get there.

> > The challenge is to distinguish between (i) and ((ii) or (iii)).

What exactly do (i), (ii), and (iii) mean?  You have cut so much out of
my post that the meaning has been lost.  This is extremely annoyinng, and
you do this frequently.  Could you be less severe with your cutting in
the future, please.

> No, we should only care about "enabled" and "disabled".

That's a fairly contentious opinion, not backed up by any reasoning.
Would you care to give your reasons why "default state" is not to be
cared about?

As we have discussed before, it is essential that c-electric-flag be
enabled by default for CC Mode buffers.  Without it, indentation would
need to be done manually, e.g. by continual use of the tab key.  Yet
c-electric-flag, a buffer local flag, is now inextricably coupled to
electric-indent-mode, a crude global flag.  A user wishing to disable
electric-indent-mode for some random buffer will find automatic
indentation broken in her C Mode buffers.

There is no mechanism provided to users by electric-indent-mode to enable
it selectively in a buffer.  Even the undocumented
electric-indent-local-mode doesn't work properly, as you admitted
recently.

In the massive confusion and possible protest that will follow in the
wake of the release of electric-indent-mode, one of your options will be
to disable the mode by default.  Would you please give your word, as a
gentleman, that whatever transpires, after the sequence emacs -Q, C-x C-f
foo.c, foo.c's copy of c-electric-flag will always be t.

>         Stefan

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).