help-window-select and info-lookup-symbol

[Helmut Eller]

It seems to me that C-h S and C-h f are so similar that both commands
should honor the value of help-window-select.  In fact, there are a lot
of (third party) packages with a display-documentation-in-other-window
command but there seems to be no agreement whether the window should be
selected or not.  Especially annoying is the fact that XEmacs usually
selects the other window while Emacs usually does not.

It would be very nice if you, the Emacs maintainers, could make a rule
or style-guide how this should be done.  E.g. should other packages look
at help-window-select or is that an "internal" variable of help-mode?

I understand that restoring the window configuration after pressing q in
the help window (or info window, or w3m buffer) is sort of tricky and it
gets very complex if multiple frames are involved, yet selecting the
help window is what many users expect.  Since restoring is so tricky it
would also be helpful if there were some general functions to do it
properly.

Helmut.