Re: master d014a5e: Use fixed-pitch font for display-line-numbers

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Alex <address@hidden>
> Cc: Yuri Khan <address@hidden>,  address@hidden,  address@hidden
> Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2017 14:15:17 -0600
> 
> > The name alone might suggest that, but the code tells a different
> > story.  I thought you looked in the code and saw there something I
> > missed, thus my questions.
> 
> Where does the code tell a different story? If you mean
> `face-font-family-alternatives', then I believe it is faulty (see
> below).

Faulty or not, it tells its story better than the name does.

> In Emacs 25.2 on Windows 7, the default face is Courier New, a serif
> font. GNU/Linux defaults to DejaVu Sans Mono, a sans-serif font. I don't
> see why Windows should default to a serif font. FWIW, I checked a couple
> of other popular text editors (Sublime and Atom), and they default to
> Consolas (sans-serif) on Windows.
> 
> The bigger issue here is that fixed-pitch-serif on Windows defaults to a
> sans-serif font (Consolas), and that fixed-pitch defaults to a serif
> font (Courier -- not Courier New like the default font).

Being serif or sans-serif is not the most important attribute of a
font that Emacs can use as its default.  A much more important
attribute is how many Unicode blocks and characters within those
blocks a font supports.  On my Windows XP, Courier New supports twice
as many blocks and characters as Consolas; on Windows 8.1 Consolas is
much better, but still lags in coverage behind Courier New.

So using Consolas just because other applications do that is not
necessarily TRT for Emacs; we must consider other factors of
importance to us.

> I believe the following should happen:
> 
>   * the defaults for the default face and fixed-pitch should align on
>     all systems possible
> 
>   * fixed-pitch should default to what fixed-pitch serif does now
>     (Consolas seems suitable)
> 
>   * fixed-pitch-serif should default to what the default face does
>     currently
> 
> If this is done, then changing the line-number face to plain "Monospace"
> should work fine even for Windows.

Sorry, I disagree with making these changes, certainly not for the
benefit of a minor feature such as display-line-numbers.  We have been
using Courier New by default since about forever; changing that now is
bound to send ripples all over the place, since many other face- and
font-related settings are based on that.

I have now reverted the change which prompted this sub-thread; I hope
that will make everyone (except James, perhaps ;-) happier, and we can
put this issue to rest.