Subject: Question/discussion about `trusted-content'

From: Dominik Schrempf <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2025 09:33:41 +0200

Hello,

I have a remark/question with respect to the newly introduced
`trusted-content' customizable variable. The documentation states

    - If it ends in "/", it is considered as a directory name and means that
      Emacs should trust all the files whose name has this directory as a prefix.

And then,

    Use abbreviated file names.  For example, an entry "~/mycode/" means
    that Emacs will trust all the files in your directory "mycode".

Why is this second requirement in place?

I tried trusting a directory using an absolute file name, e.g.,
"/home/user/trusted/dir/", and failed! I think this is because Emacs
uses the `buffer-file-truename' variable to check if the file is
trusted, and `buffer-file-truename' is "~/trusted/dir/basename".

That is, I had to set `trusted-content' to a list containing
"~/trusted/dir/" which I want to avoid. Isn't it safer to trust absolute
directories instead of directories relative to the user home directory?

On the side, isn't the name `buffer-file-truename' a misnomer? The
"true" ("real", see `realpath') filename should be the absolute one, or
not? What am I missing here?

Thanks for your consideration.

Dominik