GNU bug report logs - #45438
27.1; please fix misleading documentation for assoc-delete-all

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Message #24 received at 45438 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Hendrik Tews <hendrik.tews <at> kernkonzept.com>
To: Richard Stallman <rms <at> gnu.org>, Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>,
 45438 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#45438: 27.1; please fix misleading documentation for
 assoc-delete-all
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 2020 22:04:00 +0100

Hi,

> Whether it is worth doing the work to make it better, I have no
> opinion.  Maybe it is better to do other work instead.

There is a connection to bug#45437, which see.

I agree that it is questionable to go back in time and annotate
all functions with precise information when they had been added.

However, I believe you should
- change your development process such that, in the future, version
  information for functions and variables is recorded
- not ignorantly closing issues such as 45437, when a couple of
  people spent several hours to debug a problem that takes you
  only 5 minutes to fix. Or how long will it take you to add one
  sentence to the documentation of make-temp-file? Or how many
  hours of other people do you want to waste by saving 5 minutes
  on your side?

I now and then contribute to Proof General, which aims to support
about 3 major emacs version. Please advise how one can develop
backward compatible elisp code when the version in the function
documentation is non-present, plain wrong or misleading.

Best regards,

Hendrik

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