Subject: bug#43103: 28.0.50; Default ElDoc composition strategy in Elisp mode (eldoc-documentation-strategy)

From: João Távora <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2020 09:38:19 +0100

Dmitry Gutov <[email-masked]> writes:
> On 30.08.2020 18:15, João Távora wrote:

> It's true, but the curious reality is that AFAIK the built-in eldoc
> functions (foremost, the Elisp one) have always used the one-line
> display, even when they could show more.
>
> These is definite wisdom in that.

I see only signs of rudimentary intial design which predates
eldoc-...-multiline-p, composition, Flymake...

> Change the default in eldoc.el. Why emacs-lisp-mode?

See subject line.

> One would probably prefer to see the description of the compilation
> error rather than the function signature, if they had to choose.

Maybe you would, you can adjust it.  I'd rather not change more defaults
than the one suggested in the subject line.

>> - even if eldoc-echo-area-use-multiline-p is set to nil, users can still
>> get to all the info collecte by ElDoc with the new
>> `eldoc-documentation-compose` strategy by pressing M-x eldoc-doc-buffer
>
> Is that the only benefit?

No.

> This command is pretty odd in its design. But if its main purpose was
> to show multiple eldoc results together

It's similar to `help-buffer`, but also switches to the buffer when
called interactively.  I don't see anything odd in that, in Emacs terms.
The command pops a window to *eldoc ...*, a less restricted view into
the continuously composed results of ElDoc collection, the echo area
being a much more restricted outlet.  In the future, there could/should
be an arbitrary number of such outlets: windows, frames, tooltips, some
more restrictive, some less, some more interactive, some less.

This is beyond the scope of this bug, though.

João