Subject: RE: bug#41250: 28.0.50; Dired displays unconditionally ls-switches on modeline

From: Drew Adams <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 May 2020 15:19:00 -0700 (PDT)

> I am actually now wondering, why is it assumed that
> Dired will show sorting order on modeline by default?

Because it's useful.  And it is very common to use
`s', to toggle between name and date sorting.  Those
are the common sorts, and switches that match their
regexps are the most common.

Those predefined regexps could presumably be tweaked
to accommodate more patterns that have time in them,
but IMHO it's not worth it.

This mode-line indication is not, primarily, about
showing you the current `ls' switches.  It's about
telling you whether files are sorted by name or time.

The relevant function is called `dired-sort-set-mode-line'.
                                       ^^^^