From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Chong Yidong Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: About the :distant-foreground face attribute Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2014 20:55:37 +0800 Message-ID: <87bnzo9cja.fsf@gnu.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1389099354 26716 80.91.229.3 (7 Jan 2014 12:55:54 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2014 12:55:54 +0000 (UTC) To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Jan 07 13:56:00 2014 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1W0WCN-0006DV-CI for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 07 Jan 2014 13:55:59 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:40351 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1W0WCN-00006t-29 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 07 Jan 2014 07:55:59 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:34253) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1W0WCB-0008Pr-7B for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 07 Jan 2014 07:55:55 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1W0WC2-0008HQ-Q8 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 07 Jan 2014 07:55:47 -0500 Original-Received: from mail-pd0-x230.google.com ([2607:f8b0:400e:c02::230]:63231) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1W0WC2-0008HD-3e for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 07 Jan 2014 07:55:38 -0500 Original-Received: by mail-pd0-f176.google.com with SMTP id w10so329885pde.35 for ; Tue, 07 Jan 2014 04:55:36 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=sender:from:to:subject:date:message-id:mime-version:content-type; bh=AZaA0wk39gCNClyAaLQF+o0ngakY+K68ANWEpwFPqeM=; b=uj62+QgLeC3C5RwplP/V5+/hV1yFcpwznOUS5SqBWpAzZj9M7nlBT7V6+nSHnkoyDp oI+hQWdfkHt2iY9WCb1DHghK4umymHco5V3EJxiawQwYo67mxdr2KJDlIjDCp7SluPb0 pWUQe2ouee3c7Ed3G9ot6LeXgMGpcaLpaVLw/+AsEs0rlrstkDpLWlL/VAaDCgNXJL9V syUy6cMxnaIgxzbxFnP3T8X3ZGAf36vgxRu00ZcjqLsj/3zXwQKxiwNpOpSVPaOprD6g aBP6JI7u4J3wSl1bWJcTvItj3bYkLxsfiOX2gk1IfZ8nZOKRr6qDPrq0aMdUaTwTJjhe WtwQ== X-Received: by 10.68.163.228 with SMTP id yl4mr3610896pbb.91.1389099336879; Tue, 07 Jan 2014 04:55:36 -0800 (PST) Original-Received: from tsparkle ([65.127.72.2]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPSA id nw11sm177891871pab.13.2014.01.07.04.55.35 for (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128/128); Tue, 07 Jan 2014 04:55:35 -0800 (PST) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Error: Malformed IPv6 address (bad octet value). X-Received-From: 2607:f8b0:400e:c02::230 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:167598 Archived-At: What is the purpose of this face attribute, newly introduced for 24.4? It seems to be unused in Emacs itself. Is there a concrete example of this being needed in external packages or themes? First of all, the name :distant-foreground is not intuitive. What does "distant" mean in this context? Also, this feature has one ugly consequence. Previously, the `default' face must have all its face attributes specified, but now its :distant-foreground face is unspecified. Besides that, the implementation seems rather incomplete. The Customize interface, `modify-face', `face-spec-reset-face', and other parts of Emacs haven't been updated for the existence of this face attribute. It's unclear what functions like `face-foreground' should now do if there's a :distant-foreground. This all sounds like an invitation for more bugs. In my opinion, this feature is a bad idea.