Subject: RE: bug#14754: 24.3.50; `C-h v' needs to fill wide `pp' lines (493 chars wide?!)

From: Drew Adams <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2014 19:56:49 -0800 (PST)

> Is there any reason why it doesn't just pretty-print the values
> always?

It's not so simple.  See my followup message, after the original
report.  The bug is really about filling long lines.
Pretty-printing does not help with that.

E.g., do this:

Load file bytecomp.el, then C-h v byte-compile-cl-functions.

The value is a flat list of 456 symbols.  Pretty-printing
inserts no newline chars when printing it.

And as my followup message points out, filling something
that has been pretty-printed destroys pretty-printing.

Perhaps what might be useful (dunno) is a new pretty-printer
variable, to go along with `(eval-expression-)print-length'
and `print-circle', and which would insert a newline between
atoms when the line length is sufficiently long.  Dunno.

I don't have a solution for this enhancement request.  Maybe
someone else does.