Thomas S. Dye <t...@tsdye.com> writes: > Aloha Nick, > > Nick Dokos <ndo...@gmail.com> writes: > >> The implementation on the page you linked contains a typo (capital P >> instead of lower-case p in python) and is much more prolix than it needs >> to be. You can get the same effect with >> >> # Local Variables: >> # org-babel-default-header-args:python: ((:session . "foo"))) >> # End: >> >> This form should be preferred for just setting variables. The eval >> mechanism should be used only when absolutely necessary. > > Can you elaborate why the eval mechanism should be used only when > absolutely necessary? You've mentioned that a few times but I haven't > run across similar warnings elsewhere. >
It's a matter of safety: eval allows you to evaluate arbitrary lisp code. Doing that in a local-variables block which is run when you open the file can lead to all kinds of damage. If you get a file with an eval in the local variables section, you'd better be very sure before opening the file in emacs. Here's one warning: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Safe-File-Variables.html -- Nick
