Re: Native line numbers, final testing

[Alex <agrambot@gmail.com>]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: Alex <agrambot@gmail.com>
>> Cc: cloos@jhcloos.com,  emacs-devel@gnu.org
>> Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2017 11:22:51 -0600
>> 
>> > It should be sensible, I agree.  But "sensible" doesn't necessarily
>> > mean identical to the default face's font.
>> 
>> Sure, but I maintain in this case that it does mean identical to the
>> default face's font.
>
> I don't understand why, and I don't think I agree.

I don't see a single reason to make it different. linum didn't, and I
don't know of a single editor/IDE that uses a different font than the
default for the line numbers.

>> It ensures, usually, proper size and a non-clashing style.
>
> No one said these are necessarily our goals.  Not everything shown on
> the initial frame uses the same font, so why should line numbers be
> required to?

I'd like to ask the converse: why shouldn't line numbers be in the same
style/size, by default, as long as it's fixed-with? It should only
deviate from the default if there's a good reason to, and I don't see a
good reason to throw in serifs if the default usually/always doesn't
have them.

>> If someone customizes their default face, then they could customize
>> the line-number face similarly.
>
> That's harsh on users, and exactly the reason why I made this change.
> It might be a mistake, but I'd like to hear more opinions before I
> make up my mind.

I don't see how defaulting to serifs is less harsh.

Wasn't the point of this change to stop variable-pitch-mode from
affecting line numbers? In this case, using :family "Monospace" works
just as well.

>> Everyone else shouldn't have to do any customization.
>
> They (and you) don't need to.  I only mentioned customization because
> you didn't like the default.  Good defaults are supposed to be good
> for many users, but they aren't required to satisfy everyone, as long
> as things are customizable.

I agree with the last sentence, but I don't think this is good for many
users. If it happens that most other users' systems default to a
monospaced serif font, then I'll concede. Looking at
face-font-family-alternatives, however, leads to me to believe that this
is not the case.

>> > How are fixed-pitch* different from any other face that doesn't
>> > inherit from default?
>> 
>> Going into this discussion, I figured that fixed-pitch* would be exactly
>> like default, except enforcing, well, fixed-pitch; similarly for
>> variable-pitch.
>
> But that's obviously not the intent, as the code shows and the
> comments explain.

I don't see any explanation around the definitions for fixed-pitch*.

>> (insert (propertize "hello there!" 'face 'fixed-pitch))
>> 
>> This text increases along with the default face with "C-x +". Why does
>> the same not apply to the line-number face?
>
> I don't know.  Feel free to investigate and publish the findings.

Well, it definitely seems like a bug to me. text-scale-mode uses
face-remap-add-relative on 'default, but I don't see why this would
cause an issue. The manual states that any 'unspecified attributes mean
that the attributes are taken from the default face, so I don't see why
adding :inherit 'default should even make a difference.

Perhaps I should file a bug report?