default face change not recognized in subsequent frames

[Klaus Straubinger]

In GNU Emacs 21.2.1 (i386-redhat-linux-gnu, X toolkit, Xaw3d scroll bars)
 of 2003-02-20 on porky.devel.redhat.com:

If the font family of the default face is changed with
(set-face-attribute 'default nil :family "fixed")
then this does not change the face's font for subsequent frames, as can
be seen with the evaluation of (face-font 'default) in the first frame
and in a second, created with C-x 5 2, respectively.

The documentation for set-face-attribute reads

    FRAME nil means change attributes on all frames.  FRAME t means change
    the default for new frames (this is done automatically each time an
    attribute is changed on all frames).

>From this I assumed that my face change as given above should have
changed the face 'default for all frames I ever create in this Emacs
session.

I have tried the same with the face 'variable-pitch, and there it
worked as expected. Is there a special case with the face 'default?



Recent input:
( s e t - f a c e - a t t r i b u t e SPC ' d e f a 
u l t SPC n i l SPC : f a m i l y SPC " f i x e d " 
) C-x C-e <return> ( f a c e - f o n t SPC ' d e f 
a u l t ) C-x C-e C-x 5 2 <switch-frame> C-x C-e M-x 
r e p o r t - e m a c s - b u g <return>

Recent messages:
(emacs -q --no-site-file)
Loading disp-table...done
Loading tool-bar...done
Loading image...done
Loading tooltip...done
For information about the GNU Project and its goals, type C-h C-p.
nil
"-Misc-Fixed-Medium-R-Normal--14-130-75-75-C-70-ISO8859-1"
"-Adobe-Courier-Medium-R-Normal--12-120-75-75-M-70-ISO8859-1"
Loading emacsbug...done