measures to prevent this.
@cindex safe local variable
- When Emacs encounters a file local variable whose safety is not
-guaranteed, it asks the user whether or not to obey the file variable
-specifications. If the user says no, Emacs ignores @emph{all} the
-file variables specified in that file. A variable can be marked as
-@dfn{safe} by setting its @code{safe-local-variable} property. If the
-property is @code{t}, that variable is always considered safe,
-regardless of the value assigned to it. The
-@code{safe-local-variable} property can also be a function taking
-exactly one argument. In that case, Emacs considers it safe to give
-the variable a certain value if the function returns non-@code{nil}
-when called with that value as argument. Many commonly-encountered
-file variables possess @code{safe-local-variable} by default,
-including @code{fill-column}, @code{fill-prefix}, and
-@code{indent-tabs-mode}.
+ A variable can be marked as @dfn{safe} by setting its
+@code{safe-local-variable} property. If the property is @code{t},
+setting that variable in a file is always considered safe, regardless
+of the value assigned to it. The @code{safe-local-variable} property
+can also be a function of one argument. In that case, Emacs considers
+it safe to give the variable a certain value if the function returns
+non-@code{nil} when given that value as argument. Many
+commonly-encountered file variables standardly have
+@code{safe-local-variable} properties, including @code{fill-column},
+@code{fill-prefix}, and @code{indent-tabs-mode}.
@defopt safe-local-variable-values
-This variable provides another way to mark variables as safe. It is a
-list of cons cells @code{(var . val)}, where @var{var} is a variable
-name and @var{val} is a value of that variable that is safe.
+This variable provides another way to mark some variable values as
+safe. It is a list of cons cells @code{(@var{var} . @var{val})},
+where @var{var} is a variable name and @var{val} is a value which is
+safe for that variable.
When Emacs asks the user whether or not to obey a set of file variable
-specifications, the user can choose to mark them as safe. This adds
-those variable-value pairs to @code{safe-local-variable-values}, and
-saves it to the user's custom file.
+specifications, the user can choose to mark them as safe. Doing so
+adds those variable-value pairs to @code{safe-local-variable-values},
+and saves it to the user's custom file.
@end defopt
@defun safe-local-variable-p sym val
@end defun
@cindex risky local variable
-Some variables are considered @dfn{risky}. A variable whose name ends
-in any of @samp{-command}, @samp{-frame-alist}, @samp{-function},
+ Some variables are considered @dfn{risky}. A variable whose name
+ends in any of @samp{-command}, @samp{-frame-alist}, @samp{-function},
@samp{-functions}, @samp{-hook}, @samp{-hooks}, @samp{-form},
@samp{-forms}, @samp{-map}, @samp{-map-alist}, @samp{-mode-alist},
@samp{-program}, or @samp{-predicate} is considered risky. The
based on the above criteria.
@end defun
-If a variable is risky, it will not be entered automatically into
+ If a variable is risky, it will not be entered automatically into
@code{safe-local-variable-values} as described above. Therefore,
Emacs will always query before setting a risky variable, unless the
user explicitly allows it by editing @code{safe-local-variable-values}