The deprecation message for with_defaults urges users to use linters_with_defaults. For most uses, I imagine that is the correct replacement. But the deprecation causes some confusion in settings where an old-style config looked like:

linters: with_defaults(
    assignment_linter = NULL,
    undesirable_operator_linter(
      with_defaults(
        "<-" = "Use =, not <-, for assignment.",
        default = default_undesirable_operators
      )
    )
  )

Here, when lintr::lint_package() is called, two deprecation messages are printed to the console. Both suggest using linters_with_defaults in place of with_defaults. But when defining the undesirable-op list, linters_with_defaults is not the appropriate replacement for with_defaults. Here, the recommendation should be modify_defaults.

Could we modify the deprecation warning to print

Warning message:
Function with_defaults was deprecated in lintr version 3.0.0. Use linters_with_defaults or modify_defaults instead.