Subject: RE: bug#20992: 25.0.50; `virtual-dired': (1) doc typo, (2) unclear

From: Drew Adams <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2015 10:49:38 -0700 (PDT)

> 2. It is not very clear just what "Virtual Dired mode" is.
> Apparently it is a minor mode.

My bad about this being a minor mode.  It is apparently just
major mode Dired, with a different `mode-name' value.

The mode name should perhaps not be `Virtual Dired', but
`Dired (Virtual)'  or some such.  But see below - I don't
find anything particularly "virtual" about this.

> And the doc could be clearer wrt just what parts (e.g.
> commands) of Dired mode are available and what parts are not.
> Also, the doc says that the format is that of `ls -lR', but that
> suggests that the listing is recursive, with subdirs inserted, which
> is not necessarily the case.  And it seems that the listing switches
> are taken from the Dired buffer from which the virtual mode is derived.

That part of the bug report is still appropriate.

4. It's not clear from the doc just how `virtual-dired' changes
Dired mode.  It doesn't seem particularly "virtual", but it's not
clear what is meant by that word here.

Seems that this is in fact just Dired mode, and that it is the
opposite of a virtual Dired mode: it puts an ordinary `ls'
listing into Dired mode, no?