Poll: Should C-x C-q do version control operations?

[Andre Spiegel <spiegel@gnu.org>]

Below is a copy of the VC poll that RMS and I wrote up.  I've just
posted this on gnu.emacs.help, comp.emacs, and emacs-pretesters.
Everybody here on emacs-devel is of course also invited to take part.

If you know any other forum where the poll might be appropriate,
please pass it on in that forum.  Is there anything outside USENET or
Emacs mailing lists that you can think of?

I haven't posted it on any XEmacs forum yet; I would like to leave
this decision to the XEmacs people themselves.  But I'd be very happy
to see input from that camp as well.

The poll deliberately has no "expiration date"; we'll collect
responses as long as they are trickling in.  So, there's no need to
rush your replies, but please don't wait forever!

                                * * *

Should C-x C-q do version control operations?

The key C-x C-q's primary meaning is to toggle the read-only status of
a buffer.  When the buffer visits a file under version control, C-x
C-q also checks the file in or out (vc-toggle-read-only).  This
feature was designed so that you cannot accidentally edit a file
without properly checking it out from the version control system.

Arguably, this feature makes sense for version control backends such
as RCS where the version control state is tied to whether a file is
writable or not.  It makes less sense for CVS, at least in its default
mode, where working files are always writable anyway.  So we are
considering changing it.

Here are three alternatives we are considering.  In your reply, please
indicate which of these you would prefer, and, most importantly, why
you think so.

The options are:

  (1) For a file under version control, let C-x C-q check it in or
      out. [The present behavior.]
 
  (2) Let C-x C-q check a file in or out, but only if it is under
      version control AND its version control state is reflected in
      its file permissions (as with RCS in its default mode, and CVS
      when the CVSREAD variable is set).

  (3) Remove the version-control meaning of C-x C-q, so that it only
      controls the buffer read-only flag and never does check-in or
      check-out.

Please start your reply with the sentence "I prefer option (x).",
where x is 1, 2, or 3.  Then, please explain your reasons for this
preference.  Please also describe the concrete situations where you
find it convenient.  We are not going to make our decision by simply
counting "votes"; we want to see what we can learn from the reasons
that people report.

Feel free to propose another alternative if you think it would
be better than those three.

Please send your reply to emacs-vc-poll@gnu.org.