From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: customize-set-(value|variable) [was: apropos commands for commands, user options, all functions, all variables] Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:59:37 -0500 Message-ID: References: Reply-To: rms@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1194847332 7715 80.91.229.12 (12 Nov 2007 06:02:12 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:02:12 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: "Drew Adams" Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Nov 12 07:02:05 2007 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1IrSMu-0002rQ-3w for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 12 Nov 2007 07:01:56 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1IrSMi-0003o2-7D for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 12 Nov 2007 01:01:44 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1IrSKi-00027S-2F for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:59:40 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1IrSKh-000260-4P for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:59:39 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1IrSKg-00025i-IF for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:59:38 -0500 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([140.186.70.10]) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1IrSKg-00043K-9P for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:59:38 -0500 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1IrSKf-0002RZ-6g; Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:59:37 -0500 In-reply-to: X-detected-kernel: by monty-python.gnu.org: Linux 2.6, seldom 2.4 (older, 4) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:83021 Archived-At: 1. Rename `customize-set-value' to `set-option', and `customize-set-variable' to `set-option-default' (or add aliases). Users will find these names easier. We don't currently suggest to users that they use those commands, so making them easier to use does not seem like an important goal. However, I agree that it is hard to remember which is which, so maybe we should rename `customize-set-variable' to `customize-set-default'. We could consider the suggestion that we start inviting users to use those commands (in which case renaming them would be desirable), but that is a different question. These commands provide much better interaction for reading the new value than does the current `set-variable'. It doesn't seem to work very well at all. I tried it with `case-fold-search' and it asked a y-or-n question. I can guess that the two answers correspond to the values t and nil, but that wasn't clear. I tried it with `yank-excluded-properties', and it displayed a garbled prompt, which started with `[repeat] [choice]'. If those bugs were fixed, would it be better or worse than `set-variable'? I am not sure. 2. Rewrite `set-variable' to set any variable, not just an option, If a bunch of people want it, ok. and when the variable is an option then have the code do what `customize-set-value' does. That is, provide better value input interaction, when possible. As I said above, I am not sure that is an improvement (and at present it doesn't really work). 3. `customize-set-(value|variable)' needs some improvement. Here are some things I notice: I see you also ran into bugs in it. Would someone like to fix them.