> This is a bit long, but I think it's relatively succinct.

Thanks for putting everything together :-) looks like a 'letter to Santa' or to the three Wise Men, which would be just in time in places like Spain ;-)

> 1. Whether to load `custom-file' automatically after the init file is an open question.
Agree, but it would be a nice place, right? You have setup all the code you use in your emacs, you are sure that all variables have been defined and then you initialize them with the values you want/have customized

> 2. That should never be done if it's already been loaded...

100%, see my patch as a simple way of accomplishing that

> 3. ...(Obviously this can only be the case when it's not the same file as the init file.)

Hmm, right, I was missing that part :-)

> #3 is a no-op if the `custom-file' is empty...

Right, I was assuming that, but it's better if we write this out

> 4. ... Why? Just as you might want to explicitly control where/when, and how many times,...

That sounds fair

> 5. `emacs -q' and `emacs -Q' should not load the `custom-file'.

So we put in in the same (progn) that loads the init file

> In addition, we should add a new switch that suppresses (only) loading of the `custom-file'

Don't get that one

> 6. `custom-file' should have a default value/location.
Jup

> We could, however, keep the longstanding nil-means-use-init-file behavior, so that if you _explicitly_ set `custom-file' to nil it's the same as setting it to the value of `user-init-file'.

I'd favour that

> 7. Suppose a longtime user doesn't read the NEWS etc., and _does nothing_. What happens then? Is there a problem?
> 8. #7 is the case some people have howled about. Is it really a problem? It could be, in this scenario:

Good analysis...

Thx, /PA

On Thu, 6 Jan 2022 at 01:37, Po Lu <luangruo@yahoo.com> wrote:

Pedro Andres Aranda Gutierrez <paaguti@gmail.com> writes:

> If there's something bad, I missed it. It's been in my init.el for
> ages ;-) However, providing for emacs to do it might help people
> separate init.el from custom.el which I think is good

Isn't it already separate if you want to? IOW, can't you already change
the custom file?

> And making sure it is loaded by default after init.el may help
> debugging, right? I mean, you know when the customisations were
> loaded, and that may be more than what we have today, right?

I don't think it would be easier for debugging.

Thanks.