Subject: bug#79253: Add timestamps to *Messages*

From: Rudolf Adamkovič <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2025 14:44:13 +0200

Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]> writes:

> This happens because in this case we call 'message' 3 times, with the
> following 3 strings:
>
>   "previous-line"
>   ": "
>   "Beginning of buffer"

Not the OP, I would like to understand more.

I have just evaluated

  (progn (message "previous-line")
         (message ": ")
         (message "Beginning of buffer"))

and I see 3 separate messages in the *Messages* buffer:

  previous-line
  : 
  Beginning of buffer

Why were they not concatenated as you had described?

> What do people think about the acceptability of the above?
> Do people have other ideas for implementing this?

Seeing "previous-line: Beginning of buffer" as 3 messages is not
acceptable, IMHO.

P.S.

Not to derail the bug report, but speaking the *Messages* buffer
improvements, I would also like to see automatic scrolling, along with
two new key bindings, one for adding some sort of separator and another
for clearing the buffer.  I mention these ideas here in the case they
somehow tie to the missing time stamps design-wise.

Rudy
-- 
"The introduction of suitable abstractions is our only mental aid to
organize and master complexity."  --- Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, 1930-2002

Rudolf Adamkovič <[email-masked]> [he/him]
http://adamkovic.org