GNU bug report logs - #38205
Unhelpful documentation for add-variable-watcher.

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Package: emacs;

Reported by: Alan Mackenzie <acm <at> muc.de>

Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2019 07:39:01 UTC

Severity: minor

Done: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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

From: Alan Mackenzie <acm <at> muc.de>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: Unhelpful documentation for add-variable-watcher.
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2019 07:38:35 +0000

Hello, Emacs.

The doc string for add-variable-watcher wrongly states:

    Cause WATCH-FUNCTION to be called when SYMBOL is set.

.  Correct would be either

    Cause WATCH-FUNCTION to be called just before SYMBOL is set.

or

    Cause WATCH-FUNCTION to be called just after SYMBOL is set.

.  I'm guessing that the first of these applies, but I shouldn't have to
guess.  The difference is whether one can get the old value from SYMBOL
or not.

The documentation in the Elisp manual is similarly ambiguous.  It uses
the conjunction "whenever".

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).
This bug report was last modified 5 years and 184 days ago.

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