Re: Mail mode and message mode hooks

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

> So, the message-*-hook variables should probably be aliased to the
> mail-*-hook variables.

Yes.  Generally, message-mode should be considered as a derived-mode of
mail-mode, I think.  On this basis, it would make sense to run mail
mail-*-hook.

> One problem that I can see with this is that code intended for one mode
> may not work properly for the other mode, but I can't think of any
> concrete examples.  Any thoughts?

I have no idea what kind of code people may run from such hooks.

The main thing to remember: the old behavior is just one setq away.

And as a strong supporter of message-mode, I see nothing wrong with
people preferring mail-mode for themselves.  Heck, I've been living with
exactly such a setq in my .emacs for many years now because I preferred
message-mode over the default mail-mode.

So there is really no need to work that hard at making message-mode work
like mail-mode.  Such a thing would only be needed if we were to drop
mail-mode in favor of message-mode, whereas we're just changing
the default.
Changing defaults is not that big a deal.  We've been doing it for
decades.  Every time some people bitch, of course, but as long as it is
an improvement for the average user, the transient inconvenience is
nothing to worry about.


        Stefan