Subject: bug#58459: Getting a fresh emacs session with no customisation

From: Christopher Dimech <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2022 20:35:14 +0200

> Sent: Friday, October 14, 2022 at 5:51 AM
> From: "uzibalqa via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" <[email-masked]>
> To: "Eli Zaretskii" <[email-masked]>
> Cc: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
> Subject: bug#58459: Getting a fresh emacs session with no customisation
>
>
> ------- Original Message -------
> On Thursday, October 13th, 2022 at 4:20 PM, Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]> wrote:
>
>
> > > Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2022 16:06:21 +0000
> > > From: uzibalqa [email-masked]
> > > Cc: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
> > >
> > > > And X resources are as much user settings as what the user sets on the
> > > > init files. So Emacs cannot but obey them. It is user's
> > > > responsibility to set up his/her settings according to his/her
> > > > preferences.
> > >
> > > Untrue again. Emacs obeys them because it decided to obey them.
> >
> >
> > No, Emacs obeys them because programs on X obey them. And because
> > Emacs obeyed them since time immemoriam.
>
> You know they can be incorrect because any program can set them up,
> rather than entirely by the user.  Even when my x-resources files are
> empty, emacs goes out of its ways to get them from who knows where.
> "Because emacsn obeyed them since time immemoriam" has always been
> the standard response, rather than employing a rational and conscious
> approach.
>
> > Any further argument is really futile, because we will not stop
> > supporting X resources. It is your responsibility as the user to set
> > up the X resources on your system, or invoke Emacs in a way that
> > instructs Emacs to ignore those resources.
>
> It is not the responsibility to set up the X resources.  Most times users
> do not configure x-resources for emacs, as has been stated.  It only offers
> limitless amount of confusion.
>
> Have never asked to stop supporting x-resources, but to support them differently.
>
> > Please, just accept our position on this, even if you disagree,
> > because it will not change.
>
> Of course, I knew that all along.  Nothing changes.

Stallman has said that there are some technical barriers in finding someone interested
in and capable of doing the work needed, but there is an overarching problem that needs
to be addressed first: The code to interface Emacs to X-based GUIs needs rewriting by an
expert, and has needed it for decades. Until it gets that rewrite, changes in it are likely
to break something.

The appeal of an editor that can be extended using the Lisp language is somewhat limited.
Because it means spending a bunch of time and energy to change it.  Although it is true
that few important changes can ever happen due to the friction with old users.