RE: FW: [External] : Re: Propose to add setup-wizard.el to ELPA

[Drew Adams]

> >> Customize should not write to your init file...
> >> That's a bad Emacs design choice, IMO.
> >> It especially should not be the default behavior.
> 
> Hmm, then where should it write to?

The value of variable `custom-file'.

Similar to a bookmark file, that var could have
a default filename (location), different from
the default for the init file.

It could have a default load time/position also.
E.g., by default, it could be loaded just after
the init file, but only _if not loaded_ already.

Users should be encouraged to load it explicitly,
however, from their init file (or from some file
loaded by the init file).

They could also be told about the possibility of
loading it before or after some other code they
load/evaluate, and of the possibility of loading
it more than once - e.g., examples of why you
might want/need to do that.

There are other possibilities, of course.  The
point is to give Customize a separate place to
ply its trade - somewhere other than in a user's
init file.  An init file should be for users,
not programs, to code.

We don't, by default, let bookmark.el write
bookmarks to your init file.  Customize should
act similarly wrt code it writes/edits.

The simple design of having a `custom-file is,
I think, sufficient.  But we need not be wedded
to it, if we find something better.  The point
is for automatic coding not to interfere with
user coding, and for users to be aware of any
automatic coding, and its relation to their own.