Subject: Re: bug#35887: 26.1; global-eldoc-mode minibuffer noise is very annoying

From: Kévin Le Gouguec <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2020 18:12:47 +0200

Drew Adams <[email-masked]> writes:

>> Bob Proulx <[email-masked]> writes:
>> 
>> > In recent Emacs global-eldoc-mode has been enabled by default.  This is
>> > a very annoying mode that causes minibuffer hints of elisp doc strings
>> > to be flashing by in the minibuffer as the point moves around in the
>> > buffer.
>> >
>> > Please revert this.
>> 
>> This has now been the default since 26.1.  Users will have gotten used
>> to it, and it has seen only few complaints.  It is easy enough to
>> disable it for those that really don't like it.
>> 
>> I therefore propose to close this as wontfix.
>
> +1 to DISable it by default, IOW revert to normal,
> longstanding Emacs behavior.  There was no reason to
> enable it by default.  It's easy enough to ENable.
>
> Such things should be opt-in.

FWIW, I find eldoc's echo-area hints rather useful and, more
importantly, innocuous.

I don't have a problem with Emacs enabling features by default; it seems
fair to me for Emacs to enable unobtrusive features on the off chance
that it helps someone, as long as they're easy to disable for users who
dislike them (and I can understand disliking the echo-area agitation).

IMO Eldoc is no worse than e.g. the menu bar or the tool bar.  I don't
find those bars worth the space they take, but I'm sure they help plenty
of people, and I'll gladly endure the two-line penalty to my config to
hide them if showing them by default helps enough users.