Re: Using "Emacs Configure" **and** modifying .emacs

[Robert Thorpe <rt@robertthorpeconsulting.com>]

I don't have any problems with the Customize interface.  It's usually
easier for me to find options through the Customize interface than using
the info manual or other methods.  That's especially true now there's the
search bar.

The problem I have with Customize is the way that it modifies the init
file.  It puts all of the settings into a single block.  That block can
be in the init file or it can be in another file.  It's always all in
one place.

In my view that makes it difficult to partition the init file well.  I
want related things to be together.  For example, I have a little code
that deals with Dired-X.  I could customize the variable
dired-omit-files.  If I do that though then they'll be info in two
places, in the customize block and the part of my code that deals with
Dired-X.  That makes maintenance harder.  So, I only use Customize for
finding options, once I've found them I set the manually. I use setq or
customize-set-variable if that's necessary.

What would improve Customize for me would be if it could search through
the init file and find places where a variable is being set and put the
modification there.

BR,
Robert Thorpe