bug#52: bug#15682: 24.3.50; `:link' in `defgroup' does not respect `mouse-1-click-follows-link'

[Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org>]

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> Dunno.  But just because the code can be difficult to follow
> is not a reason to assume that it does unnecessary things, in
> general.  The widget code that I've been able to follow does
> DTRT, generally (AFAICT).

It does, but the logic is very hard to follow.  Custom/widget works by
inserting text into the buffer, and then "converting" it to a widget, or
by creating a widget and then inserting it.  And it does it all with
overlays, and seems like it's created its own event handling distinct
from the normal Emacs event handler, sort of.

There are, of course, historical reasons for this.  Per wrote Widget in
the mid 90s when many of these issues hadn't been resolved, and it
worked across many Emacs versions.

I kinda think it might be time to consider doing a rewrite from scratch
using modern Emacs features, and then things like this bug report would
start working automatically.

How big a task would this be?  I mean, of course we'd keep compatibility
(the defcustom language is fine), but just rewrite the UI `M-x
customize' bits...  Hm...

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no