Re: Bug in Custom

[Robert J. Chassell]

   I reported this bug a month and a half ago, but it is still present.

Someone could (partially) fix the bug by revising the words "Erase
Customization" in the `State' menu to "Change this Value to Previous".

The bug occurs because of different ways people think of the notion of
"Customization".  Most people that I know think of what you do in this
buffer as similar to evaluating

    (setq fill-column 72)

in a *scratch*, .emacs, or other buffer, but with a different
function.  (In this case, `custom-set-variables'.)  In addition, they
think of "Customization" as something you do with that different
function (or with `custom-set-faces').

That is to say, "Customization" in this context is not what you do
when you evaluate `(setq fill-column 72)' in your `user-init-file', it
is what you do when you evaluate

    (custom-set-variables '(fill-column 72))

So "Erase Customization" does exactly what most of the people I know
expect.  Moreover, it fits what RMS has said to expect.

Because of the different understandings of what `customization' means,
you are suggesting that evaluating a `custom-set-variables' expression
should change values set by evaluating a `setq' expression in your
existing customization file.  

In addition, you are suggesting that another way of saying "customize"
should be "evaluating a `setq' expression".


(info "(emacs)Changing a Variable")    says:

   `Erase Customization'
        This sets the variable to its standard value, and updates the text
        accordingly.  This also eliminates any saved value for the
        variable, so that you will get the standard value in future Emacs
        sessions.

Yes, this is clearly a bug.

The action does not set the variable to its standard value; the action
changes it to what ever it was before using the `custom-set-variables'
function.  The new value is only sometimes its standard value.  The
documentation should be reworded.

Incidently, the second sentence in the documentation for
`Custom-reset-standard' should also be reworded, too.  The first line
of that documentation is accurate:

  Erase all customization (either current or saved) for the group members.

But the second line is not:

    The immediate result is to restore them to their standard values.


Indeed, since many new people will think that customization refers to
the effects of evaluating a `setq' expression as well as a
`custom-set-*' expression, perhaps the word `customization' and its
cognates should all be changed.  That would mean, for example,
changing the phrase "customization buffer" to "novices' change
buffer".  It could mean changing `custom' to
`novices-special-evaluation'.

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                         
    address@hidden                         GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
    http://www.rattlesnake.com                  http://www.teak.cc