Re: [O] Config best practices?

[Sebastien Vauban]

Nick Dokos wrote:
> Marcin Borkowski <address@hidden> writes:
>> On 2015-03-20, at 10:07, Sebastien Vauban <address@hidden> wrote:
>>> Marcin Borkowski wrote:
>>>> I'm wondering what people do to keep the configuration of their Org
>>>> files in order.
>>>
>>> I'm not sure to correctly grasp your objective.  Could you restate it?
>>
>> Sure.
>>
>> Where do you put things like
>>
>> #+OPTIONS: toc:nil
>>
>> or
>>
>> #+SEQ_TODO: TODO | DONE
>>
>> or
>>
>> #+LATEX_HEADER: \newcommand{\eps}{\varepsilon}
>>
>> ?
>>
>>>> I use a dedicated top-level headline, with a COMMENT keyword, but
>>>> I started to think that a :noexport: tag might be a better idea.
>>>>
>>>> Are there any advantages of one over the other, or other approaches
>>>> altogether?
>>>
>>> I can tell you they aren't isomorphic...  The noexport tag simply says
>>> "don't export this subtree".  The COMMENT keyword adds "don't run any
>>> Babel code block in there".
>
> COMMENT also says that the whole subtree is not to be exported according
> to the doc:
>
>    (info "(org) Comment lines")
>
> Has that changed?

Nope, it hasn't: I wrote that COMMENT *adds* "don't run any code" to
"don't export this subtree either". So, we're both on the same
frequency.

>> So I guess that – since the lines with options etc. are not exported
>> anyway – that using a :noexport: tag might be a better idea.  Am I right?
>>
>>>> The reason I'm asking is that I'm tweaking my org-one-to-many utility
>>>> so that it propagates the config to all the generated files.
>>>
>>> Still not that clear to me.  Maybe an ECM would clarify your request?
>>
>> As you wish.  This is what I usually do.
>>
>> * Headline
>> * Another one
>> ** Subheadline
>> * COMMENT Config
>> #+LATEX_HEADER: \newcommand{\eps}{\varepsilon}
>> #+SEQ_TODO: TODO | DONE CANCEL
>> #+OPTIONS: toc:nil
>
> Yes, but why do you do that? What are you trying to accomplish? What
> does "keeping the configuration in order" mean?

+1

> I sometimes use a Setup heading marked with COMMENT, so it does not get
> exported.  I never put babel stuff in there so I haven't worried about
> that, but if Seb is correct that it prevents babel from evaluating
> things in the subtree, that's a bonus. If you are just trying to
> (mostly) hide it from view, add an :ARCHIVE: tag to the heading.
> But most of the time I have them at the top of the file in plain view.

+1.

Sometimes, I also have a "Setup" section at the top, with a ":ARCHIVE:"
tag so that it does not expand when cycling "view" states (via S-TAB).

Best regards,
  Seb

-- 
Sebastien Vauban