RE: Eliminating a couple of independent face definitions

[Drew Adams]

T> Like you say, it probably needs to be looked at by
T> someone with more knowledge.

Yes.  My recollection of the thread a few years back around Richard's changes to
setting face attributes informs me that those who are familiar with face
implementation (e.g. Yidong) are much better placed to think about how these
things might be done.  I remember it seeming to be fairly complex.  It is also
they who would decide _whether_ such things should be done.

T> My thoughts were that since defface is a macro, we
T> can only get at its specification at load time.

I don't think so, but I could be wrong.  AFAIK, you can do this at any time to
get the default spec:
(get SOME-FACE 'face-defface-spec).

(I thought there was also a way for a user to restore that default in Customize,
but it seems I was mistaken about that.  You can `Show Lisp Expression', but
that just shows the current value, not the default expression from the
`defface'.)

T> However, can we get to that specification before emacs
T> has loaded the custom faces section or user init files
T> that would/could modify that specification?

I don't think we need to - see above.  But again, I'm not going to try to get
involved with implementing this.  If those who are face-implementation
knowledgable are interested they will get involved.  If not, so be it.