Re: Package initialization

[Helmut Eller]

On Mon, Jul 20 2015, Chad Brown wrote:

>> I have the impression that the left hand doesn't know what the right
>> hand wants.  In the manual they say that it's ok to add things to
>> auto-mode-alist, but then Stefan says that packages should not be
>> enabled automatically.
>
> It seems like most of your objections stem from this, and it further
> seems like the difference in understanding stems from the difference
> between a _guideline_ concerning additions and a _rule_ concerning
> additions and replacements.

Indeed, I don't understand the difference between guideline and rule.

> For example, if I install a package that adds a markdown-mode, its
> probably ok to have it add markdown-mode for .md files to auto-mode-list.
> If I install AUCTeX, its probably ok for the installation to set
> some variables so that M-x preview-latex works, but it probably doesn’t
> want to override the bindings for .tex, .ltx, .sty, etc.

I also don't understand why phrases like "probably ok" are useful in
this context.  To me that sounds like: "it's ok for amateurs, who have
little knowledge about Emacs conventions, to do it, because the harm
will be quite limited, but real pros wouldn't do it because they are
aware of some obscure problem that might arise even if only with low
probability."

> It’s not clear to me if you’re aware of this difference and unhappy
> about it, or unaware of this difference and unhappy about the
> results, or both.

I'm only asking for a clarification of the guidelines, so that the next
time when some of those amateurs tells me that it's "probably ok" to
enable things automatically, I can point to the manual an tell him that
it violates the usual guidelines.

Helmut