On Fri, 2019-01-04 at 13:18 +-0200, Jani Nikula wrote: +AD4 Also, you probably do not wish the file to change when you switch +AD4 branches with different upstream baselines. Or deal with possible emacs +AD4 version dependent changes. I do like having the example in the kernel +AD4 tree, but let the users deal with actually using the file. Placing the +AD4 file at the top level makes it harder for users to have a file of their +AD4 own there. This from an emacs user. If this patch gets accepted upstream it won't take long before the .dir-locals.el file ends up in all branches. Additionally, I expect that the rate of change for this file will be low so I do not except any inconsistencies between branches. Regarding emacs versions: this patch has been tested with different emacs versions. Additionally, the rate of change in emacs' CC mode is slow. Any backwards incompatible changes in that mode would cause trouble to a very large number of users so I do not expect radical changes in emacs' CC mode. Regarding users having their own version of .dir-locals.el: why do you think anyone would want to do that? Anyway, if anyone wants to replace that file they can provide a .dir-locals-2.el file. See also https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html+AF8-node/emacs/Directory-Variables.html. Bart.