Use faces not variables for font-lock customization in rst.el. * textmodes/rst.el: (rst-block, rst-external, rst-definition, rst-directive) (rst-comment, rst-emphasis1, rst-emphasis2, rst-literal, rst-reference): New faces. (rst-block-face, rst-external-face, rst-definition-face) (rst-directive-face, rst-comment-face, rst-emphasis1-face) (rst-emphasis2-face, rst-literal-face, rst-reference-face): Make obsolete. (rst-font-lock-keywords-function): Update for above changes.