Re: Change `customize-save-variable' to work under "emacs -Q"?

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Tim Cross writes:

 > At the same time, this can also be a source of frustration. For
 > example, if you run emacs -Q to test a recipe for a bug and find it
 > works, you cannot just run report-emacs-bug to submit the bug if your
 > mail settings depend on anything but the default values. You need to
 > copy the backtrace and other important information to a temporary
 > file, exit emacs and start again without the -Q switch and then submit
 > the bug. 

$ emacs -Q
;; reproduce non-crashing bug
M-x report-emacs-bug RET           ; get the environment right
;; edit the bug buffer as usual
M-: (load-user-init-file) RET      ; YMMV, this is XEmacs-specific IIRC
                                   ; XEmacs GUI provides a button,
                                   ; Emacs can easily do the same if
                                   ; it's not already available
;; fix up own address in bug report and send

works for me.  I do that kind of thing all the time, for the reasons
you give.

 > Furthermore, the environment setting you include in the bug
 > report are now likely to be more complex and not a true reflection of
 > the actual environment that existed when you ran your recipe under
 > emacs -Q.

This isn't a problem if done as above.  There are surely other ways to
accomplish the same thing, too, such as running a separate emacs -Q,
formatting the bug buffer in the emacs -Q session, saving to a file,
then running M-x report-emacs-bug in your main session, delete all the
session information and C-x i the real bug report in.

So this thread isn't about making life easier for bug reporters (who
very likely don't remember the necessary settings the way Lars does,
or even which variables to set, because assistant.el and Customize
handle it for them), it's about making life easier for developers like
Lars.  Nothing wrong with that, but let's remember who benefits here.

 > One possibility might be to modify the code that manages/sets custom
 > variables check for the -Q switch and take some additional or
 > different steps if the -Q switch is also detected.

Another possibility might be putting basic infrastructure stuff like
mail settings in a different file, loaded on demand by the code that
needs it.  (Yeah, I know, deliberately putting all eggs in one basket
is where this whole thing started.)