GNU bug report logs - #6280
24.0.50; (elisp) Dedicated Windows

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Message #20 received at 6280 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: martin rudalics <rudalics <at> gmx.at>
To: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
Cc: 'Stefan Monnier' <monnier <at> IRO.UMontreal.CA>, 6280 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#6280: 24.0.50; (elisp) Dedicated Windows
Date: Fri, 28 May 2010 17:10:13 +0200

> So I guess you are trying to point out a conflict that can arise: in _some_
> cases an application might override a user's directive to make some window
> dedicated. Is that your point?

No, and I even don't have a point here.  I just wanted to explain how
ECB handles what might be the OP's dilemma.

> If so:
>
[...]
> And that simple user task needs to be better documented.

I doubt that this is a simple user task ...

>  The important point - the point of the bug, is that a
> fairly common user task is not adequately documented.

... or a fairly common one.

>> Suppose you are in a help buffer and want to follow a cross
>> reference to an Elisp source code buffer.  IIRC this usually
>> calls `pop-to-buffer'. Now should this action allow `display-buffer'
>> to "steal" a window showing another Elisp buffer?
>
> Not sure how that is relevant. Perhaps you are repeating your point above.

No.  I tried to give a simple example demonstrating that handling
dedicated windows is not simple.

> Unlike you, I am not trying to redesign Emacs in a bug thread. This bug is about
> better documenting for users the _existing_ feature that you _can_ dedicate a
> window to a buffer. That's not sufficiently clear in the doc.

Dedicated windows have an entire section in the Elisp manual.  What is
not sufficiently clear there?

> Please do not confuse your personal interests and knowledge about this topic
> with those of a newbie user. This is not about you or how to best design the
> complex interaction of various possibly conflicting directives to Emacs to
> display buffers in windows. This is about conveying the simple knowledge that
> most non-newbies have about dedicated windows to newbies.

We have to disagree on one simple fact: You consider dedicating windows
to buffers a simple task that requires only simple knowledge.  I don't.

> Does it not do what the OP requested, when you try it? Does it not dedicate the
> windows for buffers that are in `emacs-lisp-mode'? Do you "_completely_ fail to
> understand" that it does what the OP asked?

Suppose I have a window showing a buffer in `emacs-lisp-mode' and I
split that window.  Then the new window obviosuly should be dedicated to
that buffer as well.  I fail to understand how you achieve that.

>> Also, making `special-display-regexps' buffer-local doesn't
>> make sense to me.  At the time `display-buffer' is called
>> _any_ buffer may be current.
>
> So what? Provided that the function that makes the variable local is called when
> the correct buffer is current, the variable is made buffer-local in the buffer
> in question, i.e. in a buffer in the OP's mode.
>
> Whether that is the right function to use and the hook is run at the proper time
> is another question. I think it is, but even if I'm mistaken about that, the
> point is that you _can_ make `special-display-regexps' local for a buffer that's
> in the mode you want, and doing that will make buffers in that mode display in
> dedicated windows.

The fact that you can make a variable buffer-local doesn't imply that it
makes sense to do so.  Making `special-display-regexps' buffer-local
doesn't make sense, IMHO.

> I do not claim that the function I gave is the right one to document. The point
> is that we should document this simple user task - tell users that they _can_ do
> it and, if simple, show them _how_ to do it.
[...]
> Fine. But please keep in mind the aim of the bug report and, more importantly,
> the OP's aim. He wants to have the buffers in mode X use dedicated windows.

I earlier mentioned how you can do what the OP wants.  Write a function
that you _globally_ add to `window-configuration-change-hook'.  That
function would have to scan `window-list', check for each window whether
its buffer is in a mode that shall have dedicated windows, and, if that
is the case, call `set-window-dedicated-p' for that window with some
non-nil, non-t flag.  If someone can come up with a simpler solution
I'll be all ears.

martin

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