Re: :file keyword for Customize

[Paul R]

"Drew Adams" <address@hidden> writes:

> How about adding a :file keyword for `defcustom' and `defface'?
>
> (defcustom foo-bar-flag t
>   "Non-nil means toto."
>   :type 'boolean :group 'foo
>   :file (if (eq system-type 'windows-nt)
>             "C:\\foo-stuff\\foo-cus.el"
>           "/toto/foo-stuff/foo-cus.el"))
>
> (...)
>
> I don't have a particular use-case in mind; it's just something that occurred 
> to
> me. There is nothing special in this, but I think it might help organize 
> things
> a bit. A user's `custom-file' or `init-file' can become a monolithic blob, and
> this could help cut down on that.
>

Well, I see a clear use case : providing tools to manage emacs
configuration in multiple files, instead of in a single monolithic
.emacs. I've been using a system for several months now, which aim is
the same : have clear boundaries between different chunks of
configurations, namely putting them into different files.
As an exemple, my gnus-related configuration is loaded just before
gnus is activated, not earlier. Same for org-mode, or for just any
emacs tool I use. Emacs is for most of users more than a file-content
editor, it is a platforme with many *different* and *independant*
tools on it. We do not want a single configuration file for all
different tools we use, do we ? At least, it is not the way it works
generally. I think we should make a plan for modular emacs
configuration and packages managements (external lisp packages), and
this proposal should be part of this plan.

More info on configuration managers at http://emacs.kekerekex.net/ and
http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/Grail


-- 
      Paul