Re: bidi-display-reordering is now non-nil by default

[David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> writes:
>
>> If we don't have the infrastructure for supporting a default setting in
>> a way tolerable for most users, the default needs to be different until
>> we do.
>
> We need to get this stuff tested, so switching the default to non-nil is
> the right decision.

I repeat: we are currently talking about the default of
bidi-paragraph-direction which Eli argues should be nil in all modes
(not just text-mode derived ones) that don't explicitly override it.

I consider that a bad idea _even_ assuming it did not cause major
performance regressions.

There are many modes in Emacs that are doing some sort of tabular
display, and flipping some vertical areas of the display horizontally
around depending on the directionality of the first explicit character
is going to make it _harder_, not easier for people trying to work with
bidi content to get sensible results.

So I repeat my contention that a general default of
bidi-paragraph-direction to nil is ill-advised, even discounting the
performance regression that will see no fix in the impending release.

I am not arguing for a default of bidi-display-reordering as nil, in
which case the default of bidi-paragraph-direction would not be a
concern for most users.

So please stop beating that straw man.  The current point of discussion
is bidi-paragraph-direction, not bidi-display-reordering.

-- 
David Kastrup