Subject: Re: bug#52339: 26.3; Doc of functions that accept file-name args: say whether absolute
From: Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]>
To: Drew Adams <[email-masked]>
Cc: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 07 Dec 2021 15:01:26 +0200
List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org>

> From: Drew Adams <[email-masked]>
> Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2021 22:26:46 +0000
> 
> This report is about the doc strings and the doc in the Elisp manual for
> functions that accept file-name args.
> 
> Please say, somewhere (preferably in each relevant node, since someone
> might not start reading in node `Information about Files'), about the
> file-name arg for a function documented in the node, whether the name
> must be absolute or relative (e.g. to `default-directory') or can be
> either.  Similarly, for the doc strings of such functions.
> 
> E.g. function `file-exists-p' itself expands its arg relative to
> `default-directory', if the arg isn't an absolute name.  This isn't
> obvious.

It should be obvious, because anything else would be a terrible bug,
as should be clear if you consider the alternatives.  Which is why
Emacs does that in _all_ APIs that accept file names.

Closing.