On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 6:53 PM, Nicolas Goaziou <mail@nicolasgoaziou.fr>
wrote:

> Pip Cet <pipcet@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > Could you explain your reasoning for this in some more detail? I use
> > empty headlines + tags (properties, actually) in my "set properties in
> > headlines rather than special drawers" code, and I wouldn't want it to
> > break even more than it currently is because of this limitation.
>
> The reasoning is that it is a tricky situation, which may not be handled
> everywhere in code base, e.g., depending on the regexp used. As
> a consequence you're in /terra incognita/ anytime you use such
> constructs.
>

IMHO it would be a good idea to reduce the number of regexps anyway; for
example, there are more than twenty regexps trying to match the tags at the
end of the line. (I've fixed that here, and will submit a patch as soon as
the copyright papers have been accepted)

> I don't, but empty headlines are useful for setting tags (or, in my
> > case, properties) without making up a title, so in my humble opinion
> > it's a clear-cut case to support empty headlines + tags.
>
> Possible. The fact that we're having this discussion means we should
> probably choose one option, write it down in Org syntax, then deal with
> the bugs. Which option is open for debate. I am not married to any of
> them.
>

I think we have three options:
1. declare empty headlines forbidden
2. declare empty headlines allowed, and hope everything goes well
3. declare empty headlines allowed and go through the code making sure we
deal with them everywhere.

My preference is 3, but 1 is better than 2. I'm volunteering to try to find
the time for #3 (if only there were some sort of Emacs extension to help me
organize things better), but can't really promise anything. However, I
think we should make the decision first so it's not a total waste of effort.

I should clarify that I consider only headlines with at least one space
following the stars "empty headlines". A star on a line of its own doesn't
count.

Thanks!
Pip