[Orgmode] Re: Minor gotcha with org-agenda-files

[Bernt Hansen]

Carsten Dominik <address@hidden> writes:

> On Jan 23, 2011, at 11:06 AM, Eric S Fraga wrote:
>
>> suvayu ali <address@hidden> writes:
>>
>>> Hi Tommy and Eric,
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 8:59 PM, Eric S Fraga <address@hidden>
>>> wrote:
>>>> Tommy Kelly <address@hidden> writes:
>>>>
>>>>> suvayu ali <address@hidden> writes:
>>>>>
>>>>>> This is nothing org specific. Its how customise works. This is the
>>>>>> reason people are encouraged to _not_ mix customise with setq. I
>>>>>> for
>>>>>> example use customise for everything except org settings.
>>>>>
>>>>> Ah but hang on.
>>>>>
>>>>> First, is it reasonable to consider it obvious (I mean, it wasn't
>>>>> to me)
>>>>> that using C-c [ invokes customize?
>>>>>
>>>>> Second, even if it is reasonable, isn't it the case that customize
>>>>> offers a temporary change of variables? You have to explicitly
>>>>> ask it to
>>>>> make the change permanent, no?
>>>>
>>>> It would indeed be friendlier if this were done here as well.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I am not familiar with how to interface ui with customize so I don't
>>> know whether its possible or not, but there are many instances in
>>> emacs where this is done as standard practice. For example marking
>>> certain file local variables as safe, or turning on some special
>>> behaviour when invoked for the first time (e.g. side scrolling).
>>> However I do recall all of these prompts the user whether they want
>>> to
>>> keep the settings temporary or make it permanent. So I would say
>>> its a
>>> Request for Feature Enhancement / Bug rather than a mere
>>> documentation
>>> bug.
>>
>> Yes, I think this is the key aspect: all other instances of commands
>> in
>> Emacs modifying the .emacs file, that I am aware of, indicate they are
>> about to do so although sometimes in a roundabout kind of way
>> (e.g. "make this change permanent").
>>
>> So, can we have a feature request for this?  A simple y-or-n-p type
>> prompt would suffice.
>
>
> I can follow the arguments here.  However:
>
> The problem I see is that if you do this command a few
> times and reply "n", but then, during the same session,
> you add another file and say "y", then also the previous,
> supposedly "non-permanent" changes will become permanent
> because they are in that same variable org-agenda-files.
> To cleanly implement adding files only for a session and to
> independently add a file to the permanent set would require
> more complex changes to the agenda file list stuff.
>
> What I usually do it I want to work temporarily with a
> file is restricting to that file with `C-c C-x <'.  Then I
> work only with that file, which is usually good enough
> until I switch back to my more permanent list.
>
> If we add a query, but I would like to be able to turn
> that query off.
>
> - Carsten

I've recently switched to using directories instead of files in my
org-agenda-files.  Using C-[ adds the current file but converts my
existing (few) directories into a list of every org-mode file in those
directories.  This is not the expected behaviour - since now if I add a
new file in one of the directories (that used to be in org-mode-files)
that new file no longer contributes to the agenda.  I have lots of files
in my org-agenda-files (from these directories) and missing one or two
is non-obvious.

I'd like a way to turn off C-c [ and C-c ] so that I can only edit
org-agenda-files only from customize -- this will preserve the
directories I want to include I think.

I'm going to unbind the C-c [ and C-c ] keys in my local setup for now.

-Bernt