Re: emacs settings priority

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: crstml@libero.it
> Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2024 18:07:57 +0200
> 
> Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> >>
> >> I've tried without success to find in the manual information
> >> about these priorities/precedences.
> >>
> >> Is it possible to know how emacs decides what font is used when the
> >> same font is specified in more places: X resource, command line,
> >> init file?
> > Why is it important to know?
> When a user specify some setting in the command line for example he expects
> some feedback from the application. If the effect of that setting is not 
> visible
> the user must understand the cause.

If you can describe a situation where a setting from the command line
didn't have any effect, please do.

> > Users aren't supposed to specify
> > contradictory setting via several different means of doing so.
> Is the fact that the users aren't supposed to specify different settings
> via several different means an overall design decision? If yes, then the
> users should be aware of this decision and it should be specified in the
> manual.
> 
> But (personal opinion based on my way of using emacs) such a design decision
> is not very wise. Users must be able to control how the settings are applied
> or what are the causes of their impossibility of specifying settings.
> 
> Maybe I want to start an instance of emacs with a different background color
> and font size in a certain context (using the command line or a context
> dependent configuration file) and I see that these settings are not applied.
> 
> How can I understand why not or what can I do?

Please describe a specific situation where this happens, and let's
take it from there.  You seem to be talking about some general
principles, and I'm not sure that is useful.  In general, Emacs does
sensible things in these cases, so it isn't like the user is
completely in the dark.