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Re: Documentation for custom-file - is not (load custom-file) needed?
From: |
Lennart Borgman |
Subject: |
Re: Documentation for custom-file - is not (load custom-file) needed? |
Date: |
Tue, 28 Dec 2004 02:06:27 +0100 |
----- Original Message -----
From: "Luc Teirlinck" <address@hidden>
> Lennart Borgman wrote:
>
> I think that custom-file should not be saved to "the custom file"
> because of the problems we discussed before when renaming or
> copying this file.
>
> If you rename the file, you will have to have to make some additional
> changes, whether you customized it through Custom or not. Obviously,
> the easiest thing to do is not to rename the file. I do not
> understand the problems when copying the file (to have a backup
> presumably). I have done so several times. Actually, I have
> backup-by-copying set to true, so my custom-files get copied every
> time a backup is made. I never noticed a problem.
>
> Is there any reason to save custom-file? Could it not just be
> removed before the actual saving?
>
> If we would do that, it would be a lot better just to turn the
> defcustom into a defvar.
I have been hesitating to answer to this because of our long discussion. My
main points are:
1) Having "custom-file" saved to custom-set-variables means I can not copy
"custom file" to a new location or computer without editing it. Easy to
forget since it may be a bit unexpected that you save the file name into the
file. Saving a little bit of time for potentially many users is a good
thing. That is why I suggest that "custom-file" should not be saved to "the
custom file".
2) A GUI interface should be very helpful since most users will not try to
read much of the help texts when using it. I think Emacs "custom" is such an
interface. That is why I think the user should be noted clearly when (and
if) "custom-file" is not saved.
As you have pointed out earlier there are advantages with having something
like defcustom for changing "custom-file". However it is also clear that the
current defcustom is not really what we want. I think that the problems are
exactly at the point when "custom-file" is saved and this is probably what
we will discuss later. My suggestions are a workaround for the saving
problem.
Having said this I will try to shut up on this until after release.