[AUCTeX] (TeX-macro-global) vz (TeX-macro-private)

[jfbu]

Emacs  : GNU Emacs 24.5.3 (x86_64-apple-darwin13.4.0, Carbon Version 157 AppKit 
1265.21)
 of 2015-04-11 on Atago.local
Package: 11.88.5
 AUCTeX-date "2015-05-01"

I have noticed that when I do

C-h v TeX-macro-global

it will call the function of the same name, thus resulting
in a kpsewhich call
kpsewhich --progname latex --expand-path 
$TEXMFHOME:$TEXMFMAIN:$TEXMFLOCAL:$TEXMFDIST

(via I presume TeX-tree-expand from tex.el)

(earlier TeX-tree-expand would have made 4 calls to kpsewhich; thanks again
for having reduced it to only one)

On the other hand when I do

C-h v TeX-macro-private

there is no call to kpsewhich.

I wonder whether the difference is deliberate (well,
obviously it is) and what is the rationale.

bye,

Jean-François