Re: master f995fbd: * lisp/server.el (server-name): Add autoload cookie. (Bug#23576)

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Cc: address@hidden
> From: Dmitry Gutov <address@hidden>
> Date: Sat, 21 May 2016 10:05:13 +0300
> 
> On 05/21/2016 09:52 AM, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> 
> > I don't see how a single autoload could produce such a dramatic
> > effect.
> 
> I guess that depends on the kinds of problems that having autoloaded 
> defcustoms would bring up.

I agree, but the only specific problem I heard about in this and other
related discussions is with duplication in loaddefs.el.  I must say I
don't really understand that problem, since what I see in loaddefs.el
is this:

  (defvar server-name "server" "\
  The name of the Emacs server, if this Emacs process creates one.
  The command `server-start' makes use of this.  It should not be
  changed while a server is running.")

  (custom-autoload 'server-name "server" t)

Why this is a problem in a file that is auto-generated is not clear to
me.

No other practical problems were brought up.  The past discussions
Glenn pointed to say nothing except "don't do that, EOD".  Not very
helpful for trying to make up my own mind about the issue.

> > Avoiding such autoloading unless strictly necessary is still
> > good practice, IMO.
> 
> Right. And since the issue is marginal, the "strictly necessary" is 
> under dispute here.

Like anything else discussed on this list.  And like everything else,
for marginal issues, we must at some point trust the judgment of each
other, even when we don't necessarily agree.