Re: Faces applies to new frames

[Chong Yidong <cyd@stupidchicken.com>]

Richard M Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

> Perhaps we should eliminate the per-frame face attributes, and have
> only per-buffer ways to alter faces from the global specifications.
>
> In this design, we would have defface, and the custom settings
> (perhaps themed), and the program-specified face specs that you can
> set with `face-spec-set', plus per-buffer overrides of various kinds.
> That's all -- there would be no other way of controlling face
> appearance.

I think this is a good idea.  Now that we have per-buffer
face-remapping, per-frame faces probably won't be missed.

I don't think we should make this change without at least warning users
at least one Emacs version in advance, though.  For Emacs 23.1, maybe we
could add a note to NEWS and the manuals saying that the various frame
attributes that affect the default face will become obsolete in a future
version.  Maybe set-frame-parameter could also issue a warning.

> xfaces.c should be totally rewritten.  The only cause of face
> variation between frames would be in the different kinds of terminals.
> So it would make sense to realize each face only once per terminal.

Actually, I don't think the required changes to xfaces.c would be
extensive.  Basically, this involves removing the face_alist member of
`struct frame' and assigning it to the terminal instead.