GNU bug report logs - #24316
Mistake in GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, Section 5.3

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Package: emacs;

Reported by: Eric Wayman <ericwayman <at> fastmail.fm>

Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2016 20:55:02 UTC

Severity: minor

Done: Ken Brown <kbrown <at> cornell.edu>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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Report forwarded to bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org:
bug#24316; Package emacs. (Fri, 26 Aug 2016 20:55:02 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.
Acknowledgement sent to Eric Wayman <ericwayman <at> fastmail.fm>:
New bug report received and forwarded. Copy sent to bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org. (Fri, 26 Aug 2016 20:55:02 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eric Wayman <ericwayman <at> fastmail.fm>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: Mistake in GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, Section 5.3
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2016 16:53:34 -0400

With respect to

 -- Function: safe-length list

the text says

    "If LIST is not ‘nil’ or a cons cell, ‘safe-length’ returns 0."

But running

    (safe-length nil)

gives 0.

Best regards,
Eric Alan Wayman
Information forwarded to bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org:
bug#24316; Package emacs. (Fri, 26 Aug 2016 21:05:02 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

Message #8 received at 24316 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ken Brown <kbrown <at> cornell.edu>
To: Eric Wayman <ericwayman <at> fastmail.fm>, 24316 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#24316: Mistake in GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, Section 5.3
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2016 17:04:15 -0400

On 8/26/2016 4:53 PM, Eric Wayman wrote:
> With respect to
>
>  -- Function: safe-length list
>
> the text says
>
>     "If LIST is not ‘nil’ or a cons cell, ‘safe-length’ returns 0."
>
> But running
>
>     (safe-length nil)
>
> gives 0.

That case is covered by the first paragraph of the documentation, which 
you didn't quote:

     This function returns the length of LIST, with no risk of either an
     error or an infinite loop.  It generally returns the number of
     distinct cons cells in the list.  However, for circular lists, the
     value is just an upper bound; it is often too large.

Ken
Reply sent to Ken Brown <kbrown <at> cornell.edu>:
You have taken responsibility. (Fri, 26 Aug 2016 22:21:01 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.
Notification sent to Eric Wayman <ericwayman <at> fastmail.fm>:
bug acknowledged by developer. (Fri, 26 Aug 2016 22:21:02 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

Message #13 received at 24316-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ken Brown <kbrown <at> cornell.edu>
To: Eric Wayman <ericwayman <at> fastmail.fm>
Cc: 24316-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#24316: Mistake in GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, Section 5.3
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2016 18:20:21 -0400

On 8/26/2016 5:05 PM, Eric Wayman wrote:
> Dear Ken,
>
> I misunderstood; excuse me for taking your time!

No problem.  I'm closing the bug.

Ken
bug archived. Request was from Debbugs Internal Request <help-debbugs <at> gnu.org> to internal_control <at> debbugs.gnu.org. (Sat, 24 Sep 2016 11:24:04 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.
This bug report was last modified 8 years and 269 days ago.

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