Re: :file keyword for Customize

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Thu, 8 May 2008 14:27:10 -0700 "Drew Adams" <address@hidden> wrote: 

DA> What I was thinking was that library writers would typically provide
DA> one or more user options or functions as the :file sexps - it is
DA> those sexps that would then let users, in effect, determine the
DA> :file values used. IOW, end users would not directly determine the
DA> sexps used for :file, but they would ultimately determine the values
DA> of those sexps in some way (defined by the programmer).
...
DA> In what I imagine, programmers can do that as they like, using
DA> whatever code they think is appropriate as the various :file
DA> sexps. [...] They can do just about anything they think is
DA> appropriate for their users.

That seems really complicated, and still requires every package to do it
explicitly.

It seems like you're trying to set up a :filegroup option, really, which
tells the Customize interface that some options should be logically
grouped together when they are saved.  I think defgroup does this
logical grouping already for the vast majority of options, so it's a
matter of saying "save this defgroup's variables in file X."  That may
be possible as an optional add-on package that doesn't change the way
Customize works normally.  The approach you proposed would, I think,
require changes to the core Customize behavior instead so it's less
desirable.

Ted