Subject: Re: bug#38696: "If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up"

From: Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2019 19:04:52 +0200

> From: 積丹尼 Dan Jacobson
>  <[email-masked]>
> Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2019 08:35:54 +0800
> Cc: [email-masked]
> 
> >>>>> "RMS" == Richard Stallman <[email-masked]> writes:
> 
> RMS> Would you please show us what this looks like?
> 
> $ cat .emacs
> (custom-set-variables
>  ;; custom-set-variables was added by Custom.
>  ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
>  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
>  ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
>  )
> (custom-set-faces
>  ;; custom-set-faces was added by Custom.
>  ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
>  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
>  ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
>  '(default ((t (:family "DejaVu Sans Mono" :foundry "PfEd" :slant normal :weight normal :height 218 :width normal)))))
> 
> There is no way offered to "decompile" this into something that all
> those Emacs manuals talk about when introducing how to edit your .emacs
> file.

custom-set-variables and custom-set-faces are documented in the ELisp
manual, so, while the note about caution is in order (because not
every user knows Lisp), there's nothing magical about the above, no
more than some use of setq.

> The user is no longer in full control, but must maintain it via an
> interface (the menus.)

Only if the user chooses not to be in control.