From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Lute Kamstra Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Coding Convections - Enabling a feature by loading a file Date: Thu, 05 Jun 2003 18:24:38 +0200 Organization: CWI, Amsterdam Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+gnu-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1054830706 11466 80.91.224.249 (5 Jun 2003 16:31:46 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2003 16:31:46 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+gnu-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Jun 05 18:31:44 2003 Return-path: Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 19NxdT-0002ty-00 for ; Thu, 05 Jun 2003 18:30:43 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.20) id 19NxYR-00018u-Gy for gnu-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 05 Jun 2003 12:25:31 -0400 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.stueberl.de!solnet.ch!solnet.ch!surfnet.nl!news.surfnet.nl!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 38 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: occarina.pna.cwi.nl Original-X-Trace: news.surfnet.nl 1054830278 2019 192.16.184.200 (5 Jun 2003 16:24:38 GMT) Original-X-Complaints-To: usenet@news.surfnet.nl Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2003 16:24:38 +0000 (UTC) In-Reply-To: (Peter S. Galbraith's message of "Wed, 04 Jun 2003 14:51:46 -0400") User-Agent: Gnus/5.1003 (Gnus v5.10.3) Emacs/21.3.50 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:jpBnsFAuQzJrHDsaicgfc3z/Tc0= Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:114177 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1b5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Archive: List-Unsubscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+gnu-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:10671 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:10671 Peter S Galbraith writes: [...] > But what is the rationale behind the loading of a package having no > visisble effect? If the only purpose of a package is to enable a > feature (say changing the cursor to a bar), why ask users to do: > > (require 'bar-cursor) > (bar-cursor-mode 1) > > instead of only: > > (require 'bar-cursor) > > ? > > I am perfect happy for packages to install themselves correctly once > loaded without having to go through more hoops. I'm not familiar with bar-cursor.el, but in general a library can implement more than one feature. In such a case, it is usually not obvious which feature to turn on. It is best to turn nothing on automatically and let the user choose which of the features to use by explicitly turning them on. Even if a library contains only one feature now, features might be added in future versions. Such changes won't surprise the user if nothing is turned on upon loading the library. Furthermore, some other library could (require 'bar-cursor) to use some function that is defined in bar-cursor.el. In such a case, you usually do not want bar-cursor-mode to be turned on. Lute. -- (spook) => "unclassified Montenegro Serbian" (insert-file-contents "~/.signature") => (error "`~/.signature' too rude")