Re: [Patch] hard-widen-limits [was Re: Syntax tables for multiple modes [was: bug#22983: syntax-ppss returns wrong result.]]

[Vitalie Spinu]

>> On Tue, Mar 22 2016 12:44, Stefan Monnier wrote:

> "hard narrowing" would only be available from Elisp, not interactively.

Interactive or not, doesn't matter. The danger is the whatever eslip used within
hard-narrowed regions.

>> If users and major modes decide to use hard limits we might end up in
>> the same situation as now when narrow/widen is not perceived as a good
>> tool for multi-modes.

> Could be.  Maybe there are more "kinds of narrowing" than just 2, indeed.

> But for me, the main consideration is whether the text before/after
> point-min can be taken into account as a kind of context, or whether the
> text between point-min/max should be treated (even if temporarily) as
> being the whole&sole truth.

I agree completely. But I think defining an "whole&sole" universe need not
involve current implementation of narrowing. It's about inability to widen not
ability to narrow. My patch didn't even touch `narrow` because that's not
needed.

There is no real need to invent extra type of narrowing. It's a lot of extra
work with no additional benefit. It's simply enough to define hard limits that
none of the standard functions can lift.

In order to define a different type of narrowing you would need to introduce
alternatives to BEGV, BEGV_BYTE ZV, ZV_BYTE and the hunt them everywhere where
BEGV or BEGV_BYTE are used right now.

What concrete semantics do you have in mind? If a user or elisp already narrowed
the buffer, will hard narrowing re-narrow it? If user typed within a hard region
the hard narrowed region, will the upper hard limit expand just as ZV does?

My approach is simpler and leaves current narrowing functionality alone. You set
the limits and allow narrowing happening inside those limits normally. Even
widen cannot lift those limits. You create a small universe within the buffer
with only one exit (set-widen-limits nil nil).

You might end up loosing text outside of the bounds if you modify the buffer and
then call widen, but that's by design and this is how it's different from visual
narrowing. Hard limits stay the same irrespective of what happens to the buffer.

>> limits at the end. Problems will occur if major modes start using hard
>> limits in such contexts directly.

> I don't see any reason why problems *will* occur in that case (tho, of
> course, Murphy could be that reason).  So until such problems do show up,
> I wouldn't worry.

The problem is not hypothetical. It's occurring right now. If you impose limits
in order to do font-lock and font-lock-fontify-region-function changes those
limits that screws your multi mode. That's what is happening with current
narrowing/widening mechanism and that's precisely the reason for extra widen
limits in the first place.


  Vitalie