bug#14188: 24.3.50; ODF files and auto-mode-alist

[Stephen Berman <stephen.berman@gmx.net>]

On Thu, 11 Apr 2013 23:14:05 +0300 Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:

>> From: Stephen Berman <stephen.berman@gmx.net>
>> Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:55:24 +0200
>> 
>> The extension .od[fgpst] for ODF files occurs twice as part of a key in
>> the default value of auto-mode-alist, paired first with archive-mode and
>> later with doc-view-mode-maybe.  As a result, visiting such a file shows
>> the directory-style listing of the archive instead of the files content.
>> To see the latter, you have to explicitly invoke doc-view-mode.  But if
>> .od[fgpst] is removed from the key paired with archive-mode, then
>> visiting such a file shows the content after conversion, and when you
>> type C-c C-c, it switches to the archive listing, due to
>> magic-fallback-mode-alist.[1]  I think this is better behavior.  I can't
>> test files with the other extensions in the problematic entry
>> ("\\.\\(sx[dmicw]\\|od[fgpst]\\|oxt\\)\\'" . archive-mode), so I don't
>> know if the whole entry should be deleted or only "od[fgpst]\\|".
>
> doc-view-mode requires additional programs.  What if they are not
> available?

The second pairing of ODF files in auto-mode-alist is not with
doc-view-mode but with doc-view-mode-maybe, whose doc string says
"Switch to `doc-view-mode' if possible.  If the required external tools
are not available, then fallback to the next best mode."  In this case
the next best mode is archive-mode, due to magic-fallback-mode-alist.
That's why the first pairing is dispensable.

Steve Berman