bug#36161: 27.0.50; display-buffer-in-previous-window might choose not to use PREVIOUS-WINDOW

[martin rudalics]

> OK, let's try again. The recipe is:
>
> 1. emacs -Q
> 2. Split the frame into 4 windows, so that new display-buffer calls don't pop 
any new windows.
> 3. Select the top-left window (for instance).
> 4. Call M-x project-find-regexp, input "Xref", press RET. The result is an 
*xref* buffer shown in one of the windows.
> 5. Press q.
> 6. Try 4. again.
> 7. Repeat 5,6 as many times as you like. The *xref* buffer will be displayed 
in all three available windows in turn.

Sorry, step 4 does not work here so I cannot try that.  The behavior
you see might be caused by the rotation of windows in 'window-list-1'.
But also some other buffer display action might be responsible.  So
the first question is whether you are sure that the window is produced
by 'display-buffer-in-previous-window' in all these cases.

>>  > So about that main use case (the Debugger), can it just exclude the 
selected window using inhibit-same-window? That would obviate the need for special logic 
in this case.
>>
>> An 'inhibit-same-window' entry is the canonical way to "exclude" the
>> selected window.  A 'previous-window' entry is just a hint to "prefer"
>> some other window.
>
> I'm not sure if you're trying to say "no" in response to my question. But if 
so, I suppose this bug report can be closed (and we can conclude that this function is 
definitely not suitable for xref). Thanks for updating the docstring.

I've been trying to say "yes" to the question "can it just exclude the
selected window using inhibit-same-window".

martin