Re: possible documentation bug (3.8 Limiting)

[mazieres-amfuht9hpz7kr78jhria45x2ki]

Reiner Steib <reinersteib+gmane@imap.cc> writes:

> How about this?
>
> ,----[ (info "(gnus)Limiting") ]
> | [...]
> |    Limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
> | from the servers.  These commands don't query the server for additional
> | articles.
> | 
> | `/ /'
> | [...]
> | `/ h'
> |      Like the previous command, only limit to headers instead
> |      (`gnus-summary-limit-to-headers').
> | 
> | 
> |    The following commands aren't limiting commands, but use the `/'
> | prefix as well.
> | 
> | `/ N'
> |      Insert all new articles in the summary buffer.  It scans for new
> |      emails if BACK-END`-get-new-mail' is non-`nil'.
> | 
> | `/ o'
> |      Insert all old articles in the summary buffer.  If given a numbered
> |      prefix, fetch this number of articles.
> `----

I think what's confusing is the term "limiting commands" without a
definition.  For example, Initially I couldn't understand why "/ T"
didn't restrict the view to the current thread (because it actually
expands to thread, so you have to run "/ n / T" to limit to current
thread).  Similarly "/ w" doesn't intuitively limit.

The difference with /N and /o is that they fetch articles from the
server.  So instead of saying commands "are/are not limiting commands",
maybe consider them all limiting commands like this:

    Limiting commands restrict or expand the subset of articles visible
    in the summary buffer.  These limiting commands don't query the
    server for additional articles and can only display articles already
    fetched from the server:

      /h, etc....

    The following limiting commands can fetch additional articles to
    display from the server:

      /N, /o, etc.