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RE: Remove * characters from the front of variable docstrings
From: |
Drew Adams |
Subject: |
RE: Remove * characters from the front of variable docstrings |
Date: |
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:43:53 -0700 |
> > I was glad to see the "*" chars finally disappearing in
> > trunk r107813.
Why? Who were those `*' chars hurting?
> I wasn't, FWIW. Suddenly "M-x set-variable" doesn't work with
> variables I was used to since about forever.
I agree with Eli. I pointed out the problem prior to the change:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2012-02/msg00419.html
Others in the thread also disagreed with this change. Here's a XEmacs
perspective:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2012-02/msg00455.html
Note that that thread _started_ with the innocuous _question_ of which Emacs
versions require `*' here. Some 3rd-party Emacs code tries to maintain
compatibility with older Emacs versions. So it still uses `*' in defcustoms,
which is perfectly normal.
But now you have introduced the bug (still not fixed or even responded to) that
for such definitions the `*' shows up _as part of the help text_ when you use
`C-h v':
http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=10475
Yet the fix for that bug is trivial, as the bug report mentions:
(when (eq ?* (elt doc 0)) (setq doc (substring doc 1)))
On n'arrete pas le progres... Aren't there more important things to work on
than introducing such bugs and additional hurdles for 3rd-party code?