bug#34294: 27.0.50; flymake-start-on-save-buffer has no effect

[João Távora]

Juri Linkov <juri@linkov.net> writes:

>>> I have flymake-start-on-save-buffer customized to 't' to check syntax
>>> only when a buffer is saved, but it still checks the unfinished work
>>> while edits are in progress, showing the errors that make no sense
>>> until the buffer is saved
>>
>> They "make sense" if you were to interpret/compile the buffer's
>> contents at that moment.  It's called fly-make for a reason ;-).
>
> I just want flymake to fly a little lower ;-)

OK, no problem.

> 1. The defcustom definition of flymake-no-changes-timeout
>    currently doesn't allow customizing its value to nil,
>    because it's type is only 'number.  It could provide
>    an option for `nil'.

A patch is welcome to to fix this.

> 2. Naming inconsistency - there are following customizable variables:
>
> (defcustom flymake-start-on-flymake-mode t
> (defcustom flymake-start-on-save-buffer t
> (defcustom flymake-start-syntax-check-on-newline t
>
> The last is unnecessary long and could be simplified to just:
>
> (defcustom flymake-start-on-newline t
>
> Please compare it with another variable already renamed with:
>
> (define-obsolete-variable-alias 'flymake-start-syntax-check-on-find-file
>   'flymake-start-on-flymake-mode "26.1")

A second patch is welcome to fix this too.  Please use obsolete variable
aliases, as you suggested.  I trust you will choose good names.

> 3. Maybe the documentation could be improved with the docstring of
> flymake-start-on-save-buffer having a hint about disabling
> flymake-no-changes-timeout?
>
> For example, etc/TODO has such entry:
>
>   ** Flymake's customization mechanism needs to be both simpler (fewer
>   levels of indirection) and better documented, so it is easier to
>   understand.  I find it quite hard to figure out what compilation
>   command it will use.

That is probably obsolete and can be erased.  My flymake.el redesign
should have taken care of that, and is documented in the Flymake info
node.  If you feel it is sufficient documentation, a third patch is
welcome to remove that TODO entry.

> 4. Also I found these related entries in the same etc/TODO file:
>
>   ** Display something in the margin on lines that have compilation
>   errors.

Flymake does this, even though it uses the fringe by default, but I
don't have more clues to what the author of this line intended.

>   ** Allow fringe indicators to display a tooltip (provide a help-echo
>   property?)

I think this is a more generic wish and is not strictly Flymake related.

> What do you think about displaying a tooltip on the fringe indicator
> with the same text that is displayed on the tooltip over the location
> of the error in the source buffer?  It's easier to hover on the fringe
> than finding the location in the buffer to hover.

I don't have any strong opinion. It's fine, I guess, but not
specifically tied to Flymake.  It may be difficult to implement.  BTW
you can use flymake-goto-next-error and flymake-goto-prev-error to
navigate between errors, it's what I use all the time.

So to summarize, it'd be great if you could provide the three patches to
implement the suggestions you gave.

João