Re: [matplotlib-devel] Plot or Not: voting to create better matplotlibrc

[Chris B. <bea...@ha...>]

I had the same question about opt-out vs opt-in. Personally, I vote for
opt-out. I would like to see each release of MPL have an associated style
(which may be the same as the last release, but maybe not). With Tony's
style PR, users that need constant styles would either put
`style.use('1.3')` in their script, or `style: 1.3` in an rcParams file.
This would then freeze the style FOR-EV-ER (sandlot voice). However, the
default would be `style: latest`, so that the default user benefits from
the community's effort into making the best possible set of defaults. Is
that sufficiently pain-free for people who want future proofing? Or do you
think styles must be opt-in (which, effectively, means that defaults cannot
change).

I'm not sure if I understand what you're getting at re:
approximately_emulate. I'm in favor of two modes for style loading -- some
kind of lazy version that only touches the options explicitly addressed in
the file, and an explicit version that defaults all other options to
something. Thus, explicit loading would guarantee that a style never
changes.

chris