RE: Syntax tables for multiple modes [was: bug#22983: syntax-ppss returns wrong result.]

[Drew Adams]

> Reading some of the posts on emacs-devel today, it strikes me that
> narrowing might be the wrong tool for marking the boundaries of distinct
> regions where different major modes are in effect.  It seems to cause
> nothing but trouble.
>
> I don't know what the right tool is, and it may not currently exist
> in Emacs.  But it might be a good use of time to work out what
> properties such boundary markers ought to have, and if necessary,
> to implement them.

Indeed.  Just what properties do you need for "such boundary
markers"?

What's wrong with using _markers_ to mark area boundaries?
(That's what I use in library zones.el, for example.)

What's wrong with using text properties to mark areas?
(That's what I use in library isearch-prop.el, for example.)

I haven't been following this thread except for scanning it,
so I don't really know what the need is for messing with
narrowing (or for defining another, "harder" narrowing).

I'm just hoping that at the end of the day our age-old
narrowing feature will at least remain as it has been, for
both programs and interactive use.

(It doesn't give me confidence, a priori, to have seen that
at least one developer involved expressed little understanding
of how users and programs actually use narrowing, thinking
that narrowing is only for hiding text you do not want to see.)

How about a bit of a spec (description, summary) of what you
really need?  It's not even clear what the problem is that you
are trying to solve.

Look at the Subject line of this thread, and that of the bug
thread that this one derived from, and that of the other
derived thread, for the patch "hard-widen-limits".  Do they
really characterize what this is all about: the problem to be
solved?