GNU bug report logs - #65913
with-help-window arranges for 'inhibit-read-only' to be set to 't'

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Message #8 received at 65913 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Heime <heimeborgia <at> protonmail.com>, Stefan Kangas <stefankangas <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 65913 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#65913: with-help-window arranges for 'inhibit-read-only' to be
 set to 't'
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2023 16:13:09 +0300

> Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2023 10:41:01 +0000
> From:  Heime via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs,
>  the Swiss army knife of text editors" <bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org>
> 
> Any time one wants to write (insert) into a read-only buffer (e.g. *help*), 
> one has to make it writable.  Doesn't matter when that time is.  If it's 
> read-only you need to make it writable to write into it.
> 
> Reading the source for 'with-help-window', it arranges for 'inhibit-read-only' 
> to be set to 't' around the call to its body.  Once the body finishes, that 
> temporary binding goes out of scope and read-only is in effect again.
> 
> The aforementioned resetting  of 'inhibit-read-only' to 't' is an important 
> feature that should be included in the docstring for the function 'with-help-window'.

I disagree.  The use of inhibit-read-only is an implementation detail
of with-help-window (and of many other functions in Emacs); mentioning
it in the doc string will IMO have no useful purpose.

The doc string of "C-x C-q" (read-only-mode) does mention
inhibit-read-only, which is I think a much more reasonable place for a
reference to that variable.

Stefan, WDYT?

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