Subject: Re: bug#56799: (gnu services configuration) usage of *unspecified* is problematic

From: Maxim Cournoyer <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2022 11:09:46 -0400

Hi Maxime,

Maxime Devos <[email-masked]> writes:

[...]

> I think it would be better to:
>
>  * gradually move away from *unspecified* to (values)
>  * and this way, gradually change the meaning of *unspecified* from "an
>    unspecified value" to 'an atom you can do with as you want"
>  * after this, unspecified? and making #<unspecified> readable by the
>    reader aren't weird anymore

Or perhaps simply introduce a #none or other special syntax similar to
None in Python, that would serve a different purpose that *unspecified*,
and be orthogonal to it.  It seems that'd be less confusing and simpler.

Thanks,

Maxim