Re: [PATCH] Remove obsolete fast-lock and lazy-lock libraries

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hello, Stefan.

On Sun, Aug 09, 2020 at 15:53:21 -0400, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> > I was thinking that a more descriptive name would make it easier for
> > people to figure out what the variable is for.

> IMNSHO, that variable [font-lock-support-mode] should not be a
> defcustom any more and we shouldn't encourage users to touch it.  IOW
> we should mark it obsolete.

In other words, deliberately restrict what users can do with Emacs.
This is surely not a great idea.

At the moment, sensible normal values are nil and jit-lock-mode.  Also
sensible would be, for example, jit-lock-debug-mode, when a user wants
to compare standard jit with her own enhanced version.  It is not
inconceivable that somebody might write something entirely new to
supersede jit-lock.  Why do you want to make these things more difficult
to do?

> We could OTOH add a new command to enter a form of
> `font-lock-debug-mode` which could disable the use of jit-lock (but not
> necessarily in exactly the same way as setting `font-lock-support-mode`
> would, tho it would probably be the most obvious immediate choice in the
> short term).

font-lock-support-mode is _NOT_ obsolete.  It is useful for debugging.
Maybe it needn't be a defcustom any more.  But all the suggestions for
altering it that I've read seem aimed at making Emacs less capable.

Lets leave font-lock-support-mode alone.

>         Stefan

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).