Re: why cannot set cursor-type with setq but only with setq-default??????

[Greg Hill]

At 9:34 AM -0800 1/15/03, Christian Seberino wrote:
> setq-default is used to set cursor to be a bar rather than a box...
>
> (setq-default cursor-type    'bar)
>
> How come (setq cursor-type    'bar) doesn't work????

Chris,

Apparently cursor-type is automatically buffer-local, so setq changes 
its value only for the current buffer.  setq-default changes its 
value for all buffers that don't have their own buffer-local version.

cursor-type as a variable seems to be new to emacs-21.  I didn't even 
know it existed until you asked this question.  Before 21 you had to 
use modify-frame-parameters to change it.  I have not been able to 
find any documentation on cursor-type as a variable other than in 
emacs-21's interactive help.  Can you point us to some?  Thanks.

--Greg