Let dir locals for more specific modes override those from less

The list of dir local variables to apply is now sorted by the number
of parent modes of the mode used as the key in the association list.
That way when the variables are applied in order the variables from
more specific modes will override those from less specific modes.

If there are directory entries in the list then they are sorted in
order of name length.  The list of modes for that dir is then
recursively sorted with the same mechanism.  That way variables tied
to a particular subdirectory override those in in a parent directory.

Previously the behaviour didn’t seem to be well defined anyway and was
dependent on the order they appeared in the file.  However this order
was changed in version 26.1 and it probably also depended on the
number of dir-local files that are merged.

Bug#33400

* lisp/files.el (dir-locals-get-sort-score, dir-locals-sort-variables)
(dir-locals-read-from-dir): Sort the dir locals so that more precise
modes and directory-specific entries have override lesser ones.
* doc/emacs/custom.texi (Directory Variables): Document the priority.

1 files changed, 22 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/doc/emacs/custom.texi b/doc/emacs/custom.texi
index b07362f3cea..3fd655048b4 100644
--- a/doc/emacs/custom.texi
+++ b/doc/emacs/custom.texi
@@ -1375,6 +1375,28 @@ be applied in the current directory, not in any subdirectories.
 Finally, it specifies a different @file{ChangeLog} file name for any
 file in the @file{src/imported} subdirectory.
 
+If the @file{.dir-locals.el} file contains multiple different values
+for a variable using different mode names or directories, the values
+will be applied in an order such that the values for more specific
+modes take priority over more generic modes.  Values specified under a
+directory have even more priority.  For example:
+
+@example
+((nil . ((fill-column . 40)))
+ (c-mode . ((fill-column . 50)))
+ (prog-mode . ((fill-column . 60)))
+ ("narrow-files" . ((nil . ((fill-column . 20))))))
+@end example
+
+Files that use @code{c-mode} also match @code{prog-mode} because the
+former inherits from the latter.  The value used for
+@code{fill-column} in C files will however be @code{50} because the
+mode name is more specific than @code{prog-mode}.  Files using other
+modes inheriting from @code{prog-mode} will use @code{60}.  Any file
+under the directory @file{narrow-files} will use the value @code{20}
+even if they use @code{c-mode} because directory entries have priority
+over mode entries.
+
 You can specify the variables @code{mode}, @code{eval}, and
 @code{unibyte} in your @file{.dir-locals.el}, and they have the same
 meanings as they would have in file local variables.  @code{coding}