Subject: Re: bug#39293: [PATCH] Base bookmark-bmenu-mode on 'tabulated-list-mode'

From: "Basil L. Contovounesios" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2020 12:55:31 +0100

Stefan Kangas <[email-masked]> writes:

> Karl Fogel <[email-masked]> writes:
>
>> Stefan, is there a strong motivation here, other than the obvious
>> attractions of re-using code and avoiding multiple implementations of
>> similar functionality?
>
> I don't see any strong motivation here, no.
>
> Some features of tabulated-list-mode would be nice to have, such as
> sorting by column and better mouse support.

FWIW I'm generally in favour of reusing core, general infrastructure
wherever applicable, because IMO the benefits outweigh the downsides,
but I don't know enough about bookmark-bmenu-mode or tabulated-list-mode
to comment on that part of this discussion.

What I will comment on is that, unless bookmark.el provides a specific
public API (not just functions, but rather any format that's documented
and can be relied on externally), then external extensions to it should
not rely on its internal implementation.  Packages should not be limited
by assumptions made by external extensions.  Besides, why are these
extensions external to bookmark.el to begin with?  Surely useful
extensions should be included upstream.

Thanks,

-- 
Basil