Re: Inhibiting read-only

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org>]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

> But the read-only buffer doesn't fit your bill, it requires that you
> develop a non-trivial infrastructure we currently lack.  Isn't it
> better to use existing features instead?

The "existing way" to do this now is to use `before-change-function',
which is what Customize does.  And it sucks.

>> Having to re-apply properties to ensure that we still are read-only
>> after inserting text (modulo stickiness) is pretty annoying.
>
> I don't see the annoyance.  Can you elaborate the difficulties you
> envision?

Re-applying text properties after massaging the buffer (from some
command) is an annoyance.

> But marking the entire buffer read-only and then using text properties
> to inhibit that for some portions of the text sounds wrong to me.
> Especially when we already have facilities for making only part of the
> text read-only.

Well, we could have facilities for the opposite very easily.  The
commands already look up the `read-only' text property, so all we have
to do is add the proper action for a special value, and Bob should be a
quite close relative soon.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  bloggy blog http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/