Subject: Re: bug#52773: Master and (probably) emacs-28: locate-library hides .eln files.

From: Alan Mackenzie <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 25 Dec 2021 11:25:19 +0000

Hello, Andrea.

On Sat, Dec 25, 2021 at 10:43:51 +0000, Andrea Corallo wrote:
> Alan Mackenzie <[email-masked]> writes:

> [...]

> >> Hi Alan,

> >> The trouble in this area is that `locate-library' might be used by
> >> existing programs to obtain the source file (.elc files are tipically in
> >> the same directory where the corresponding .el are).

> > Are you saying that programs obtain the path of the .elc file, then
> > expect to get the source file by removing the "c" at the end?

> Precisely.

> Despite what the docstring says we have to deal with the existing
> software on the field.  IIRC at the time after a number of bug reports
> was deemed that minimizing incompatibilities and making the
> native-compiler as much transparent as possible was priority.

> One option would be to update the docstring and add a second function to
> return the true value similarly to what we did with
> `load-true-file-name'.

> The other option is of course what you've suggested.

Another option would be to print the true library name when
INTERACTIVE-CALL (an argument) is non-nil.  Or we could add yet another
&optional argument.

The doc string needs fixing whatever we do, I think.

None of this feels very satisfactory, but Emacs is nearly 50 years old.
;-)

> Thanks!

>   Andrea

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).