Subject: Re: bug#79280: package installation leaks tar-mode data buffers
From: Mattias Engdegård <[email-masked]>
To: Stefan Monnier <[email-masked]>
Cc: Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2025 17:29:47 +0200
List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org>

21 aug. 2025 kl. 21.15 skrev Stefan Monnier <[email-masked]>:

> It's been suggested/mentioned several times in the past, but it's not
> clear how that would work.  Maybe we could allow `buffer-name` to be `t`
> for buffers which have no name yet are still live, and then collect (and
> find solutions for) all the problems this introduces.

Right. The idea would be to have unlisted buffers, which may or may not have a name but wouldn't be in Vbuffer_alist. We may need to impose other restrictions such as not being used in a window, to reduce the number of things that can go wrong. But the GC proving an absence of references to a buffer is a pretty solid ground for removal.

This should be completely feasible but is not very high up on my list of things to do. Meanwhile, hacks like the one made for package.el will have to do.

Anyway, no reason for this bug to dwell any longer at the platform. Closing!