Re: vc-mode-line ancient, root-specific code for buffer-read-only

[Paul Eggert]

Glenn Morris wrote:
> I would like to suggest just removing that vc-mode-line code.
> It's for locking VCS, is buggy, and doesn't even make sense.
> root cannot "write anything", unless we are concerned with odd cases
> like a file being writable by other but not owner. Ie locked files would
> be marked read-only for root anyway.

The code is indeed for locking VCs which are almost entirely obsolete now. And 
the code has problems if the file has been deleted, as you noted. So I would 
favor removing the code as being more trouble than it's worth.

On the other hand I don't follow the comment "root cannot 'write anything'". 
Traditionally, root can write any file that is writable to any user (and even 
some files that no other users can write to), so in that sense roote can "write 
anything".