From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Drew Adams" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: RE: toolbar conventions Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2005 16:57:04 -0800 Message-ID: References: <200512172022.jBHKMuw15652@raven.dms.auburn.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1134867537 20051 80.91.229.2 (18 Dec 2005 00:58:57 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 00:58:57 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun Dec 18 01:58:55 2005 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Enms2-0006LK-RM for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 18 Dec 2005 01:57:51 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Enmso-0004s8-1E for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 17 Dec 2005 19:58:38 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1EnmsJ-0004rZ-Sd for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 17 Dec 2005 19:58:08 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1EnmsG-0004ov-Kz for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 17 Dec 2005 19:58:07 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1EnmsG-0004or-Gc for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 17 Dec 2005 19:58:04 -0500 Original-Received: from [148.87.122.30] (helo=rgminet01.oracle.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA:24) (Exim 4.34) id 1Enmuv-0003BI-Hb for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 17 Dec 2005 20:00:50 -0500 Original-Received: from rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com (rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com [138.1.186.50]) by rgminet01.oracle.com (Switch-3.1.6/Switch-3.1.6) with ESMTP id jBI0vBMR016265 for ; Sat, 17 Dec 2005 17:57:11 -0700 Original-Received: from rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com (Switch-3.1.7/Switch-3.1.7) with ESMTP id jBI0vAhA009260 for ; Sat, 17 Dec 2005 17:57:10 -0700 Original-Received: from dradamslap (dhcp-amer-rmdc-csvpn-gw6-141-144-113-6.vpn.oracle.com [141.144.113.6]) by rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com (Switch-3.1.7/Switch-3.1.7) with SMTP id jBI0v8ph009244 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5 bits=128 verify=NO) for ; Sat, 17 Dec 2005 17:57:10 -0700 Original-To: X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.6604 (9.0.2911.0) In-reply-to: <200512172022.jBHKMuw15652@raven.dms.auburn.edu> Importance: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1506 X-Brightmail-Tracker: AAAAAQAAAAI= X-Whitelist: TRUE X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:47973 Archived-At: Does anyone have any ideas on the issue of how to use the term "option"? That issue is more important--it is not just an issue of punctuation, it is inconsistent use of a word. Would someone like to study the situation and find out which uses occur where? The name "user option" used to pretty consistently refer to variables, although occasionally some remarks about them may have applied to faces too, without this being explicitly mentioned. It appears that this started to change somewhere around the beginning of this year, with changes like: 2005-01-30 Richard M. Stallman * custom.texi (Easy Customization): Defn of "User Option" now includes faces. Don't say just "option" when talking about variables. Do say just "options" to mean "anything customizable". (Specific Customization): Describe `customize-variable', not `customize-option'. This appears to be a rather radical change in terminology, especially when supposedly preparing for a release. It would require going very carefully through code and manuals, if we wanted to be consistent. I believe that the majority of places in the Emacs code and docs still use the word "user option" to mean "user variable". The change would require some getting used to it for existing users, used to the old terminology. Even if we consistently change all code and manuals, use of the old terminology is likely to find its way back in, through commits from people unaware of the change. I myself was unaware of it, until today. I read through custom.texi, but somehow I just thought that it used "option" in a loose way, for convenience. Please note that there was a fairly thorough discussion of exactly this topic on the emacs-pretest list between 2005-01-22 and 2005-01-27 (hence the log comment by RMS on 1-30). Please review those messages before continuing this thread. Better that we should pick up from where we left off discussing the issues involved, than that we repeat ourselves. New input on previously discussed stuff is welcome, of course.