GNU bug report logs - #68958
[PATCH] Support bookmarking Xref results buffers

Previous Next

Full log

View this message in rfc822 format

From: Eshel Yaron <me <at> eshelyaron.com>
To: Dmitry Gutov <dmitry <at> gutov.dev>
Cc: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>, 68958 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#68958: [PATCH] Support bookmarking Xref results buffers
Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2024 07:18:56 +0100

Hi,

Dmitry Gutov <dmitry <at> gutov.dev> writes:

> On 07/02/2024 14:25, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>>> To make this happen, we need to propagate some more information to the
>>> "*xref*" buffer (and any other Xref fronted).  We do this, without
>>> breaking compatibility, by setting a new variable from inside the xrefs
>>> fetcher function.  The frontend can examine this variable to learn all
>>> about the source of the fetched xrefs after invoking the fetcher.
>>> Namely, the "*xref*" buffer uses this information to create bookmarks.
>> Thanks.  Frankly, I'm surprised we need such a complex changeset for
>> supporting such a simple extension, but I'll let Dmitry judge that.
>
> A lot of changes seem to stem from the desire to add detailed info
> into the bookmarks's name (including the identifier being searched,
> the search type, and the xref backend in use).

That's not the case.  The changes are all meant to facilitate creating
bookmarks that you can restore at a later session.  AFAICT the backend,
identifier and search type (kind) are a required for that, no?  We use
them to suggest a meaningful bookmark name, but that's just a bonus.

> At the moment our code doesn't save all of those separately, just
> combines them in xref--fetcher.
>
> So whether the patch has to be complex would depend on whether we
> really need to have bookmark names look exactly like proposed. Though
> I'd rewrite it a little even in that case.

Again, the name of the bookmark is really not the focus here.  We can't
persist the value of xref--fetcher, since it's an anonymous function, so
we get all the info needed to /recreate/ that function to the frontend.
If there's another (simpler?) way to provide this feature, please do tell.


Best,

Eshel

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.