From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Drew Adams Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: RE: Using "Emacs Configure" **and** modifying .emacs Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2017 16:09:44 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <4c4b3808-6be2-4d84-9b5e-08f731ebdb53@default> References: <1502436066.2568371.1070085968.1D25E0E7@webmail.messagingengine.com> <87tw1ekxgo.fsf@127.0.0.1> <867ey9sva2.fsf@zoho.com> <86378xskth.fsf@zoho.com> <20170812073057.GB20873@tuxteam.de> <86bmnlqlic.fsf@zoho.com> <20170812080204.GC20873@tuxteam.de> <867ey9qf0q.fsf@zoho.com> <87wp69jcjt.fsf@fliptop> <864lt8eb36.fsf@zoho.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: blaine.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: blaine.gmane.org 1502838631 11463 195.159.176.226 (15 Aug 2017 23:10:31 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@blaine.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2017 23:10:31 +0000 (UTC) To: John Mastro , help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Aug 16 01:10:26 2017 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by blaine.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1dhkya-0002JU-B3 for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 16 Aug 2017 01:10:20 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:49730 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1dhkyg-0006DU-PJ for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 15 Aug 2017 19:10:26 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:49476) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1dhkyA-0006CY-Ma for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 15 Aug 2017 19:09:55 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1dhky5-0003Jt-Mv for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 15 Aug 2017 19:09:54 -0400 Original-Received: from userp1040.oracle.com ([156.151.31.81]:39927) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1dhky5-0003JF-3C for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 15 Aug 2017 19:09:49 -0400 Original-Received: from userv0022.oracle.com (userv0022.oracle.com [156.151.31.74]) by userp1040.oracle.com (Sentrion-MTA-4.3.2/Sentrion-MTA-4.3.2) with ESMTP id v7FN9k3c028200 (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=OK); Tue, 15 Aug 2017 23:09:47 GMT Original-Received: from userv0122.oracle.com (userv0122.oracle.com [156.151.31.75]) by userv0022.oracle.com (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id v7FN9kRV013304 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=OK); Tue, 15 Aug 2017 23:09:46 GMT Original-Received: from abhmp0002.oracle.com (abhmp0002.oracle.com [141.146.116.8]) by userv0122.oracle.com (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id v7FN9jDd017940; Tue, 15 Aug 2017 23:09:46 GMT In-Reply-To: X-Priority: 3 X-Mailer: Oracle Beehive Extensions for Outlook 2.0.1.9.1 (1003210) [OL 12.0.6774.5000 (x86)] X-Source-IP: userv0022.oracle.com [156.151.31.74] X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.4.x-2.6.x [generic] [fuzzy] X-Received-From: 156.151.31.81 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.21 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "help-gnu-emacs" Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:114049 Archived-At: > > According to the thread, `customize-set-variable' should be used > > rather than setq. >=20 > I would put it differently: it's fine to use `setq' on any variable, > it's just that there may be more to be done.=20 Maybe, maybe not. A `:set' function for a given `defcustom' can do anything it wants. It need not set the option value at all (surprise!). It can do anything - or nothing. Typically it does set the value. And typically it uses a function such as `custom-set-default' to set it, which does what you might expect. And often, as you say, it does something additional, often after setting the value (or before, or both). But you can't count on a typical case, any more (well maybe a little more) than you can count on just using `setq' to DTRT. > You could therefore use `customize-set-variable', but my > preference is generally to view the variable's definition, > see whether a custom setter is defined, and > decide if I need to do anything about it. That's fine. Extra work, in general, but it shouldn't hurt, at least not in the short term. Not sure why you would prefer that, but it sounds like it is so that if you find you can get away with `setq' in some case then you prefer to use that. Is that it? And what if the library changes the `:set' function and you upgrade? I'm not being facetious - I really don't see the advantage/motivation.