Re: Emacs 21.1: indirect buffers don't work properly with *info*

[Alan Mackenzie]

Stefan Monnier <monnier+gnu.emacs.bug/news/@rum.cs.yale.edu> wrote on 12
Nov 2001 13:30:17 -0500:
>>>>>> "Alan" == Alan Mackenzie <none@example.invalid> writes:
>> C-h i                   ; enter info
>> m emacs
>> m indirect              ; move to a typical info page
>> C-x 4 c                 ; clone the buffer *info* as *info*<2>.
>> u                       ; move "up" in buffer *info*<2>
>> *info*<2> now displays the parent node correctly.  *info* has its
>> narrowing removed and its window displays the start of the entire buffer.

> There really isn't much we can do about it.

What is actually going on here?  A command in one window fouling up a
different window seems a bit strange.

A couple of times when I tried this sort of thing with my .emacs loaded,
emacs crashed completely, but I don't seem to be able to reproduce this
any more.  This I caused by typing further to "u"s to try to get up to
the info directory.  I use (desktop-load-default) (desktop-read) in my
.emacs, though, so perhaps the number of buffers that get loaded at
startup, or their order, makes a difference.

> Indirect *info* buffers just don't make much sense.

> Maybe C-x 4 c should know about it and use clone-buffer (i.e. not
> `indirect') for things like *info*.

I think I've misunderstood what indirect buffers are about.  I would like
to have two info buffers, one pointing, say, into the Emacs manual, the
other into the Elisp manual.  Then I could switch back and forth quickly
between two (or several) places in the info hierarchy.  

What is the essential thing about an "indirect" buffer?  How is it
different from a merely "cloned" buffer?  What is it about indirect
buffers which make them silly for *info*?  What are indirect buffers
_for_?

> In the mean time, just don't use C-x 4 c but use M-n or `C-u m emacs'.

Ah.  Yes, this works fine.  :-)  I found "clone-buffer" in NEWS, but not
in the Emacs manual command index.  I don't think there's anything in the
Emacs manual for "clone-buffer".

I'm confused.

>       Stefan

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany)
Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter
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