GNU bug report logs - #21695
25.0.50; Change most occurrences of `setq' in Emacs manual to `customize-set-variable'

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From: martin rudalics <rudalics <at> gmx.at>
To: rms <at> gnu.org
Cc: larsi <at> gnus.org, gregory <at> heytings.org, hmelman <at> gmail.com, 21695 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#21695: 25.0.50; Change most occurrences of `setq' in Emacs manual to `customize-set-variable'? Really?
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2021 09:34:34 +0200

> I am now not sure what you had in mind.
> However, we seem to have reached conflicting conclusions.
> You say that
>
>   > Then it seems to say that setting one of these variable with setq (in
>   > an init file?) is almost surely a bug.
>
> but everything else in this discussion seems to support the opposite
> conclusion: setting one of these variables with setq in an init file,
> in the usual simple case (you haven't loaded the definition yet), is
> perfectly ok.

Note that Gregory's patch addresses only a small subset of customizable
variables - those whose values should be assigned with a :set form.
Typical examples are timer based options like 'blink-cursor-delay' where
setting the variable requires to start or restart a timer or options
where you want to update things on all live frames or windows as with
'frame-background-mode'.  With most of these options a simple 'setq'
would have none or at least not the desired visible effect.

martin

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