text properties not applied (almost a bug report, but...)

[Joe Corneli]

In some modes (elisp and mail are two I've tested) this form simply
returns `t', there's no change to the display, and apparently no
change to the buffer.

(set-text-properties (line-beginning-position)
                     (line-end-position)
                     '(face font-lock-keyword-face)
                     (current-buffer))               
                            ^                        ^

                            2                        1
                                                  C-x C-e
                          (get-text-property       
                             (point) 'face)
                          ;=> nil

Is there a way to assert that I really want to set the face,
regardless of the mode the buffer happens to be in (though it seems to
be a bit of a long-shot)?  Or must I switch to fundamental mode to set
the face?  (Note: in CVS emacs of 2005-05-10, switching *back* to
fundamental mode didn't work, but with today's version emacs, that at
least works.)