Andros Fenollosa <[email protected]> writes:

> I would like to contribute a patch that allows empty Org headlines to be
> written without a trailing space.

Thanks for your interest contributing to Org!
We always welcome contributions, although this particular patch is
proposing to alter very fundamental block of Org syntax and thus very
risky. We will need to discuss it carefully.

> Currently, Org mode requires a space after headline stars even for empty
> headlines. This means you must write "* " (with a space) instead of just
> "*" for an empty level-1 headline.
>
> This patch modifies the headline parsing to allow empty headlines without
> the trailing space, while maintaining full backward compatibility and
> preventing false positives.
> ...
> 5. Backward compatibility is maintained

Well. Not really.
Consider a document like

**** Chapter 1

The beginning.

***

Scene 1

***

Scene 2.

...

With your change, the above will completely change the meaning.
In other words, by making the proposed change we risk breaking the
existing Org documents for users.

It does not mean that the change should be outright rejected, but it
does not mean I need (1) strong justification showing that advantages of
the change will outweigh the potential breakage; (2) feedback from other
Org users.

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode maintainer,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>

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