Subject: Re: bug#50184: emacsclient -n should clear the minibuffer

From: Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2021 09:45:52 +0300

> From: 積丹尼 Dan Jacobson <[email-masked]>
> Cc: Lars Ingebrigtsen <[email-masked]>,  [email-masked]
> Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2021 04:43:55 +0800
> 
> Proof:
> Do C-x =.
> it says
> Char: s (115, #o163, #x73) point=474 of 1163 (41%) column=6
> 
> OK, now do
> $ emacsclient -n some.file
> 
> So the character under the cursor is still
> Char: s (115, #o163, #x73) point=474 of 1163 (41%) column=6
> ??
> 
> Little chance.

It is a fallacy to assign some kind of "truth value" to the echo-area
message, and expect it to disappear when it's no longer "true".  Those
messages are just that: echoes of some past command.

More generally, Emacs keeps the echo-area messages because they might
be important, and because Emacs has no idea about the true meaning of
the messages.  You made a straw man argument by picking up a message
that is highly context dependent, but what if that message would show
something like a text message from your loved one, or the date and
time of your death?

There's no way I can see that we could distinguish between messages
that should stay and those which should go.  I can tell you from my
experience that I frequently have important messages go when I'd like
them to stay.