Re: custom-set-variables considered harmful

["Clément Pit-Claudel" <cpitclaudel@gmail.com>]

On 2017-11-24 02:16, Stefan Monnier wrote:
>> Is there a particular reson you're not using ‘customize-set-variable’
>> for all values?
> 
> Because I want the code to look as much as possible like "manually
> written Elisp", and `setq` is what is used in 99% of the Elisp
> customization code.

I think that's a bug, though — multiple packages of mine have specific code to deal with this (users using setq instead of customize-set-variable).

>> It would be more consistent, and also avoid problems
>> in case a package is changed and a setter function is added to
>> a variable which previously did not use it.
> 
> Note that as long as the `setq` is within the magical
> custom-autogenerated-user-settings form, it will behave correctly even
> if the variable has a setter function.

I like the direction of this patch very much, but I'm not a fan of this: it seems too error-prone.  It'd be much better if copying from the special form was safe (at least in the vast majority of cases).

> The difference will only affect
> those users who take this code and then copy it elsewhere.

But isn't one of the selling points of this patch to make copying easier?

Thanks,
Clément.