Subject: Re: bug#49587: Where are links in describe-symbol minor-mode?

From: Lars Ingebrigtsen <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2021 11:20:02 +0200

Juri Linkov <[email-masked]> writes:

> Try to use 'C-h o' on the symbol of a minor mode defined by 'define-minor-mode'.
>
> There are many such symbols, for example:
>
>   C-h o dired-hide-details-mode
>
> displays the Help buffer where text:
>
>   See options: ‘dired-hide-details-hide-symlink-targets’ and
>   ‘dired-hide-details-hide-information-lines’.
>
> has no links in the first part of the buffer that describes the function,
> but there are links only in the second part that describes the variable.

I think the *Help* buffer thing is due for an overhaul.  I've been
poking at it to make it more composable, but it's currently implemented
as a series of hacks that insert stuff into the buffer, and then it
later tries to determine what it's just inserted.

This is a fallout of that strategy -- it skips certain paragraphs when
it finally gets around to doing link recognition, instead of just doing
that immediately when inserting the doc string.

There's also the annoying reliance on `standard-output', which is pretty
bizarre, because it means that there's

	  (with-current-buffer standard-output
            ...

all over the place.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no