Subject: Re: bug#66554: [PATCH] Add the public API of Compat to the core

From: Philip Kaludercic <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2024 16:29:00 +0000

Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]> writes:

>> From: Philip Kaludercic <[email-masked]>
>> Cc: [email-masked],  [email-masked],  [email-masked],
>>   [email-masked]
>> Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2024 07:40:23 +0000
>> 
>> Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]> writes:
>> 
>> >> Daniel, do have any ideas how to improve the documentation here?  It
>> >> seems to me that the authoritative source of information on what
>> >> functions to compat-call is Compat itself, right?
>> >
>> > What does Compat manual say about this aspect?
>> 
>> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
>> Note that Compat provides replacement functions with extended
>> functionality for functions that are already defined (@code{sort},
>> @code{assoc}, @dots{}).  These functions may have changed their
>> calling convention (additional optional arguments) or may have changed
>> their behavior.  These functions must be looked up explicitly with
>> @code{compat-function} or called explicitly with @code{compat-call}.
>> We call them ``Extended Definitions''.  In contrast, newly ``Added
>> Definitions'' can be called as usual.
>
> Thanks.  I suggest to copy the above paragraph to the ELisp reference
> manual, 

OK, can do.

>         and add a cross-reference to the Compat manual after it.

IIUC the cross-reference will be broken, unless the user has installed
Compat manually.  Moreover, if I am not mistaken, the documentation
bundled with the Compat package might not be loaded at all, if the
package isn't activated due to the versioning trick.  I'd add a link to
the HTML manual, rendered on elpa.gnu.org, but I don't know if this is
conventional.

> Btw, whenever you introduce terminology in our manuals, as in
> ``Extended Definitions'' above, it is best to use the @dfn markup
> instead of literal quotes: the results look better in HTML and printed
> output formats.

Ok.

-- 
Philip Kaludercic