Re: [Emacs-diffs] master a4144af 1/2: Prefer ~/.config/emacs to ~/.emacs.d if neither exists

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

> (1) only ~/.config/emacs (the new-convention directory) is present, where
> Emacs obviously should use that;
>
> (2) only ~/.emacs.d (the old-convention directory) is present, where Emacs
> obviously should use that;

Your terminology presumes the conclusion ;-)

I'd call them differently: There's the XDG-convention and then there's
the native-convention.

> (3) both directories are present, where I recall that we discussed that
> Emacs should use the new-convention directory; and

FWIW, I argued for the other choice but as long as ~/.config/emacs is
never automatically created, it's probably OK.

Basically the argument is "if the user consciously chose to use the
weird XDG setup, then let's obey those wishes".

> (4) neither directory is present, which we did not discuss explicitly but
> I reasoned by analogy with (3) that Emacs should also prefer the new
> convention when either the old or the new will do.

I don't think (3) and (4) need to be linked.

Making (3) prefer ~/.config/emacs basically means we're on the path to
deprecating ~/.emacs.d.  I don't think I'm ready for that.

BTW, ~/.config/emacs/init.el seems to be an exception in the XDG space
because in my experience all those ~/.config files are normally expected
to be manipulated via GUI options, rather than by editing them directly.


        Stefan