Re: Should a human ever set the ID property? Should a human only ever set the CUSTOM_ID property?

[Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net>]

Grant Rettke <gcr@wisdomandwonder.com> writes:

> Good evening,
>
> Just learned about CUSTOM_ID property. It seems like if you want to
> define a custom identifier, then you do it here and that identifier
> will get used correctly in all of the weavers. It also seems like a
> human should never set the value of the ID property.
>
> The reason I ask is that I've got code that makes sure that every
> headline has an ID property set unique because org-uuid makes it so
> easy. At the time CUSTOM_ID didn't exist. It kind of looks like I
> ought to refactor all of it to use CUSTOM_ID because it will "just
> work" in the rest of org mode.
>
> Am I grokking things correctly here?

I don't think that's really necessary, why not just continue to use the
"regular" built in ID commands?

My understanding (and I may be grokking things *incorrectly* here) is
that CUSTOM_ID is mostly useful when you expect to be to be typing the
ID itself (ie when linking to a headline), or when it's otherwise
important that the text of the ID be some precise string, and not a
random string.

If all you want to do is ensure that all headlines have an ID, I would
assume that the regular built-in functions would do the trick just fine.

Lots of assumptions there!

E