GNU bug report logs - #73709
29.4; Doc of `file-newer-than-file-p'

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From: Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen <at> web.de>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 73709 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, drew.adams <at> oracle.com
Subject: bug#73709: 29.4; Doc of `file-newer-than-file-p'
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2024 01:21:40 +0200

Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> writes:

> Are you sure this is a good idea?  If the user who reads the doc
> string doesn't know the meaning of "the file is newer", how can we be
> sure she knows the meaning of "file's last modification time"? [...]

I had a look what my find(1) man page says about the command line option
"-newer":

| Time of the last data modification of the current file is more recent
| than that of the last data modification of the reference file.

I think something like this is better than saying nothing, and worse
than telling all details.

Apart from that: if it is hard or not practical to describe what the
function returns in every case, we can instead try to describe major use
cases.  For example, checking whether an auto save file has to be
restored, or whether a file has to be recompiled.  Then the user would
probably have an idea about what this is about even without any
background knowledge and implementation details.  At least a
misunderstanding would be less likely.


Michael.

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