Re: Install C source code for for debugging help

[Paul Eggert]

On 9/27/19 9:40 AM, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > > Both you and my (and others on
> > > this list) have the sources installed,
> > Not really. I am typing this email on a laptop that has Emacs installed,
> > but there are no C sources in sight because Ubuntu doesn't supply them
> > as part of Emacs.
> So if I refer to something in the sources, or send a C-level patch,
> you cannot do anything useful with that information?

It depends on which version of Emacs you were referring to.Typically 
when you and I interact, it's about Emacs master, and that's different 
from what Ubuntu ships. So I wouldn't expect my laptop Emacs to match 
your email exactly; in order to do something useful and reliable with 
your email I'd need to put a copy of Emacs master on my laptop, or use 
my laptop to log into a computer that already has a copy of Emacs master 
(the latter is what I typically do).

However, if we were talking about Emacs 1:26.1+1-3.2ubuntu2 (which is 
the latest version on stable Ubuntu, and is what I run on my laptop), 
then I'd expect my Emacs C-h f help buttons to match our conversation. 
Unfortunately, this does not currently work for C-language functions. 
Although it's unlikely that you and I would discuss this particular 
Emacs version as you don't use Ubuntu, it's quite possible I'd discuss 
this Emacs version with other Ubuntu users and it'd help such 
discussions if C-h f worked for us.