Subject: bug#70163: 29.3; hexl-mode incorrect docstring

From: Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2024 21:14:48 +0300

> From: Thierry Volpiatto <[email-masked]>
> Cc: Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]>,  Stefan Monnier
>  <[email-masked]>,  [email-masked]
> Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2024 17:04:04 +0000
> 
> 
> Andreas Schwab <[email-masked]> writes:
> 
> > On Apr 03 2024, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> >
> >>> From: Thierry Volpiatto <[email-masked]>
> >>> Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2024 15:02:52 +0000
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> Hexl-mode docstring specify "\<hexl-mode-map>" in its first line, this
> >>> to specify some keybinding related to this map at end, as a result the
> >>> documentation command returns a three line string, the first line beeing
> >>> a blank line until hexl.el is loaded.  I think docstrings generally
> >>> should not have this specification in their first line.
> >>> 
> >>>     (defun hexl-mode (&optional arg)
> >>>       "\\<hexl-mode-map>A mode for editing binary files in hex dump format.
> >>>       [...] 
> >>>       Most cursor movement bindings are the same: use \\[hexl-backward-char],
> >>>       [...]
> >>
> >> What do you suggest to do instead?
> >
> > Customary is to put it directly before the (first) keymap reference.
> 
> Exactly.

So we don't want an empty line at the beginning of a doc string, but
are okay with having it farther into the doc string?  Any particular
reason why?  Or what am I missing?