Subject: bug#23425: master branch: `message' wrongly corrupts ' to curly quote.

From: Alan Mackenzie <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2017 21:01:01 +0000

[ Posted to [email-masked].  Reply-To: set there too. ]

On Fri, Jun 02, 2017 at 20:13:22 -0400, Glenn Morris wrote:

> > We had that discussion there already, and I doubt whether it'd be
> > worthwhile to repeat it. Of course you're free to take it there again
> > if you like.

The discussion was abruptly suspended with "we're too close to a
release", without any conclusion having been reached.

`message' and friends are in a thoroughly unsatisfactory state, with
wild ad-hoc rules, and obstruse formulations needed as workarounds.

> I think this is a situation where the maintainer(s) should simply
> announce a decision, so that we can stop going over the same ground
> again and again. (Personally I think a year and two releases means the
> decision is already made.)

The decision was made in the near infinite number of releases prior to
Emacs 25 to have a rational and clear system of special characters
beginning with %.  Quote translation, which was introduced into Emacs
without a consensus amongst developers has destroyed that rationality
and simplicity.

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).