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Re: [O] [RFC] Document level property drawer
From: |
Adam Porter |
Subject: |
Re: [O] [RFC] Document level property drawer |
Date: |
Mon, 30 Sep 2019 11:01:36 -0500 |
User-agent: |
Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/26.1 (gnu/linux) |
Gustav Wikström <address@hidden> writes:
> Hi,
>
> This patch introduces a document level property drawer.
>
> This has been discussed previously in a larger context:
> - https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-orgmode/2019-06/msg00000.html
> - https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-orgmode/2019-08/msg00339.html
> - https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-orgmode/2019-09/msg00010.html
>
> The patch is a somewhat modified version of what was included in the third
> link above.
How does it differ from what was previously proposed?
> The following will be true for document level property drawers:
> 1) In the same way that one can have a property drawer for a heading, one
> can have a property drawer for a whole document.
> 2) All existing commands that can work with property drawers will
> (shall) work also on property drawers before the first heading.
What exactly does "will (shall)" mean?
> 3) Properties defined in a property drawer will have precedence over
> properties defined as a property keyword, if the same property is
> defined using both conventions.
That protocol seems unnatural and confusing to me:
- If precedence were to be defined by something other than file-order,
it seems to me that those defined with #+ keywords should have
precedence, because they are more visible, while those in drawers are
hidden.
- However, it seems to me that the simplest, most natural protocol would
be for later declarations to override earlier ones.
> 4) The position for the document level property drawer is:
> - At the first line in a file that is not a comment or a keyword.
>
> I.e. the following will work:
>
> #+begin_src org
> # -*- mode: org -*-
> ,#+TITLE: Test
> :PROPERTIES:
> :CATEGORY: Test
> :END:
>
> Preamble
>
> ,* Some heading
> Some content
> #+end_src
>
>
> but not this:
>
> #+begin_src org
> Some comment and/or empty line
>
> :PROPERTIES:
> :CATEGORY: Test
> :END:
>
> ,* Some heading
> Some content
> #+end_src
That feels unintuitive to me. Document-level property keywords may
appear anywhere in a file, so it seems inconsistent for document-level
property drawers to be limited in this way, as if there were an implied
headline at the top of the file. If it were so, I would expect to see
many mailing list posts by users asking why the properties defined in
their document-level property drawers aren't working. Given that there
is no enforcement in Org's UI to keep such drawers in certain places, I
think the implementation should be tolerant of users' preferences and
mistakes (cf. Postel's Law).