Subject: Re: bug#33164: Compiled function value information in *Help*

From: Lars Ingebrigtsen <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2021 16:05:17 +0200

Noam Postavsky <[email-masked]> writes:

>> But it is less helpful than what we had back in Emacs 23, which printed
>> the name or the lambda expression of the function that is the value of
>> the variable.  Examples:
>>
>>  comment-line-break-function is a variable defined in `simple.el'.
>>  Its value is comment-indent-new-line
>
> This one is still the same in newer Emacs versions.
>
>> But just showing the byte code, even disassembled, is not so helpful.
>> What if a user wants to go to the function definition, to use it as a
>> model for defining a new value for the variable or just to study it?
>
> Similarly, C-h v float-pi tells me
>
>     float-pi is a variable defined in ‘float-sup.el’.
>     Its value is 3.141592653589793
>
> It doesn't show me (* 4 (atan 1)) for study.

The help buffer shows the actual value of the variable, which may be
set somewhere else than it has been defined.  It's not feasible for the
Emacs help system to take you to all locations a variable has been
changed, so I'm closing this bug report.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no