Re: Issue 2376 in lilypond: Automatic footnotes on \null markups causes unexpected results

[lilypond]

Comment #2 on issue 2376 by address@hidden: Automatic footnotes on \null  
markups causes unexpected results
http://code.google.com/p/lilypond/issues/detail?id=2376

Too invasive for my taste.  There is nothing wrong with having a single  
null stencil and/or empty stencil.  What is wrong is when programs try to  
change them.  If that is a serious concern for some reason, one can make  
them readonly or copy-on-write.  We use techniques for that (mutable and  
immutable parts of properties, for example) elsewhere.  It would even do to  
just set a flag on those that the writing routine balks at.