Re: [Patch] hard-widen-limits [was Re: Syntax tables for multiple modes [was: bug#22983: syntax-ppss returns wrong result.]]

[Vitalie Spinu <spinuvit@gmail.com>]

>> On Tue, Mar 22 2016 07:57, Stefan Monnier wrote:

> IIRC past discussions on this issue, one option was to merge your
> set-widen-limits into narrow-to-region by adding an optional argument `hard'.

If narrowing is already in place, set-widen-limits will not touch it unless the
visible region expands beyond the hard limits. I think widen limits is
fundamentally about widening and only indirectly about narrowing.

Mixing hard limit into a common user level function is a bad marketing
strategy. We don't want to encourage major modes to use it in funny ways. If
users and major modes decide to use hard limits we might end up in the same
situation as now when narrow/widen is not perceived as a good tool for
multi-modes.

Static usage of hard widening, like in Info example, is not really a
problem. Multi modes need to impose hard limits transiently, in specific
contexts like indentation, syntax parsing or font lock, and will restore the
limits at the end. Problems will occur if major modes start using hard limits in
such contexts directly.

  Vitalie