GNU bug report logs - #3615
23.0.94; (elisp)Local Variables: xrefs to nodes for buffer-local and frame-local vars

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From: "Drew Adams" <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
To: "'Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen'" <larsi <at> gnus.org>
Cc: 3615 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#3615: 23.0.94; (elisp)Local Variables: xrefs to nodes for buffer-local and frame-local vars
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:08:58 -0700

> > Where do you see, as one example, anything about 
> > frame-local variables here?
> 
> frame-local variables are pretty much deprecated, so there didn't seem
> to be any point.

1. There is an Elisp manual node, `Frame-Local Variables'.  It is even in the
main Elisp menu (`Top'), which emphasizes its importance.

If frame-local variables have been deprecated and are not to be referred to in
the doc, then a much bigger correction to the manual is needed than just what
this bug report calls for: remove that node and all references to it.

However, I see _nothing_ in NEWS about frame-local variables being deprecated.


2. In any case, this bug report is about more than frame-local variables.

There is now a cross ref from `Local Variables' to `Buffer-Local Variables'
(good), but there is still no cross ref from the latter to the former.  And
still no explanation at `Local Variables' that it describes a different notion
of "local variable" from the other two.

It especially needs to be pointed out that "these [three notions] are not
closely related, in spite of their similar names", as the bug report says.  This
is not at all obvious, and is a recurrent cause of confusion.

Note, BTW, that there _is_ a cross ref from `Buffer-Local Variables' to
`Frame-Local Variables', and vice-versa.  What's missing are the connections to
`Local Variables'.

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