Re: asm-mode patch to allow per-file comment character setting from file locals

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Alastair Houghton <address@hidden>
> Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 11:36:29 +0100
> Cc: Stefan Monnier <address@hidden>, address@hidden
> 
> >>> Files set from a file local variables block are made buffer-local,
> >>> anyway.
> >>
> >> Which isn't stated in the Elisp info documentation (which I *did*
> >> read),
> >
> > File local variable blocks are not documented in the Elisp manual at
> > all.  They are a user-level feature.
> 
> *My* copy of the Elisp manual has a node entitled "File Local Variables".

Which says, as its very first paragraph:

    This section describes the functions and variables that affect
    processing of file local variables.  *Note (emacs)File variables, for
    basic information about file local variables.

So this section describes the _functions_and_variables_ related to
local vars _processing_, not the user-level information for which you
are referred to the user's manual.  And the user manual says, in the
very first paragraph of the node referenced above:

    Visiting the file checks for local variable specifications; it
    automatically makes these variables local to the buffer, and sets
    them to the values specified in the file.

Do we agree now that the information you were looking for is in the
docs?  If you think something in these texts is unclear or missing,
please tell what that is, thanks.

> If I'm wrong or have misunderstood something, or have missed
> something in the docs, I don't mind being told that, but I also
> don't see why I should put up with remarks I perceive as cheeky
> given that I'm giving my time (and/or my employer's time) for free.
> I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation.

I think you should assume a possible misunderstanding, before you
actually decide that a remark that sounds cheeky to you is indeed
cheeky.  Please don't forget that for most of the people here
(including David and myself) English is not their first language.
Fine nuances of English are not always clear to us.

And you are not the only one who gives their time for free.  All the
rest of us, including, but not limited to, those with gnu.org
addresses, are also volunteers, answering questions and helping
maintain Emacs on their own free time.  So the politeness and good
manners are equally reasonably expected on both sides.

> If it was not a gnu.org address, that's different because you don't
> have any control over them and they don't represent the FSF.

People with gnu.org address don't represent the FSF in any way, they
just happen to have accounts on gnu.org machines because they do work
for the GNU project.

> I think the Elisp manual's node (the larger of the two nodes that
> discuss file locals) should explicitly state that they are
> automatically made buffer local.  If it had done, I'd probably have
> seen it.

I'll leave it to Richard to decide whether this information should be
actually added to the ELisp manual, but please understand that we
cannot repeat in the ELisp manual everything that the user manual
says, as it will inflate the ELisp manual too much.  That's what
cross-references are for--to say things in one place, then point there
in several related ones.

> The node in the Emacs manual is very short and looks like a menu
> node with an introduction, rather than actual documentation per se.

See the citation above: what you were looking for is right there
before the menu, I think.