GNU bug report logs - #60040
29.0.50; flymake manual should document language support

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Stefan Kangas <stefankangas <at> gmail.com>
Subject: bug#60040: closed (Re: bug#60040: 29.0.50; flymake manual should
 document language support)
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2023 19:13:02 +0000

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Your bug report

#60040: 29.0.50; flymake manual should document language support

which was filed against the emacs package, has been closed.

The explanation is attached below, along with your original report.
If you require more details, please reply to 60040 <at> debbugs.gnu.org.

-- 
60040: https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=60040
GNU Bug Tracking System
Contact help-debbugs <at> gnu.org with problems

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From: Stefan Kangas <stefankangas <at> gmail.com>
To: João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 60040-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#60040: 29.0.50;
 flymake manual should document language support
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2023 12:11:55 -0700

João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com> writes:

> Also, given the advent of LSP, I think the trend is
> for Flymake to be chiefly useful when connected
> with something like Eglot.  Not exclusively so, but
> rather predominantly so.

I think you're completely right here, but this should be documented
prominently.  So I've installed commit 9549612c53d on emacs-29.

Feel free to tweak, extend, rewrite, or improve it.  It's very brief as
is, but I didn't know what more to say.  Unfortunately, there's not much
need for a lot of documentation when things just work.  ;-)

On a separate note, perhaps this note doesn't need to be on the first
page in Emacs 30.1:

       Historically, Flymake used to accept diagnostics from a single
    backend.  Although obsolete, it is still functional.  To learn how
    to use and customize it, *note The legacy Proc backend::.

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From: Stefan Kangas <stefankangas <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: 29.0.50; flymake manual should document language support
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2022 10:20:57 -0800

Severity: wishlist

Please consider adding a new chapter in (info "(flymake) Top") that
documents all built-in flymake support, and how to enable them
automatically.

I think such a chapter could also document the languages known to be
supported in packages on GNU ELPA and NonGNU ELPA.

It is currently hard to know which modes support flymake-mode, without
testing it in each mode.  For example, I don't see that
`flymake-texinfo' or `perl-flymake' are currently documented anywhere
outside of their docstrings.

You can use `M-x apropos-function RET flymake RET', of course, but that
requires users to know implementation details of flymake (how to
implement a backend), as well as know that the functions must be loaded
(or autoloaded) for that to work, and finally you need to filter out a
lot of internal flymake implementation details and similar.

Note in particular that this is useful whether or not it is already
documented in the documentation for the respective packages (which it
most often is not, AFAICT).

See also:
https://www.flycheck.org/en/29/languages.html#flycheck-languages

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