GNU bug report logs - #79485
31.0.50; Loaded files inherit read-symbol-shorthands

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "David J. Rosenbaum" <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: 31.0.50; Loaded files inherit read-symbol-shorthands
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2025 16:58:06 -0700

Hello,

I am using read-symbol-shorthands to alias db to
cl-destructuring-bind. It works but causes problems when I load a file
containing a symbol that starts with db. For example, one can use emacs -Q
with the following file.

================================================================
(require 'tramp-gvfs)

;; Local Variables:
;; read-symbol-shorthands: (("db" . "cl-destructuring-bind"))
;; End:
================================================================

To reproduce, save the above and load it with M-x load-file. This
results in the following error.

================================================================
Loading /home/david/tmp/read-symbol-example.el (source)...
byte-code: Cannot open load file: No such file or directory, cl-destructuring-bindus
================================================================

The problem seems to be that tramp-gvfs requires dbus and db is being
replaced with cl-destructuring-bind. IMO, loaded files should not inherit
shorthands from files that require them since those shorthands are only
valid for that particular file.

In GNU Emacs 31.0.50 (build 1, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version
3.24.49, cairo version 1.18.4)
Repository revision: 27853a2bca63b339bb2264d6c92c7c5ddcd51a75
Repository branch: master
Windowing system distributor 'The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.12101018
System Description: Arch Linux

Configured using:
 'configure --prefix=/home/david/Code/executables/emacs-dev
 --with-x-toolkit=gtk3 --sysconfdir=/etc --prefix=/usr
 --libexecdir=/usr/lib --localstatedir=/var --disable-build-details
 --with-cairo --with-harfbuzz --with-libsystemd --with-modules
 --with-native-compilation=aot --with-tree-sitter'

Configured features:
ACL CAIRO DBUS FREETYPE GIF GLIB GMP GNUTLS GPM GSETTINGS HARFBUZZ JPEG
LCMS2 LIBOTF LIBSYSTEMD LIBXML2 M17N_FLT MODULES NATIVE_COMP NOTIFY
INOTIFY PDUMPER PNG RSVG SECCOMP SOUND SQLITE3 THREADS TIFF
TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS TREE_SITTER WEBP X11 XDBE XIM XINERAMA XINPUT2 XPM
XRANDR GTK3 ZLIB

Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: en_US.UTF-8
  value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix

Major mode: Elisp/d

Minor modes in effect:
  tooltip-mode: t
  global-eldoc-mode: t
  eldoc-mode: t
  show-paren-mode: t
  electric-indent-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  tool-bar-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  minibuffer-regexp-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  indent-tabs-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t

Load-path shadows:
None found.

Features:
(shadow sort mail-extr emacsbug lisp-mnt message mailcap yank-media puny
dired dired-loaddefs rfc822 mml mml-sec epa derived epg rfc6068
epg-config gnus-util text-property-search mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode
mail-parse rfc2231 mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader sendmail rfc2047
rfc2045 ietf-drums mm-util mail-prsvr mail-utils tramp-cache time-stamp
tramp trampver tramp-integration files-x tramp-message help-mode
tramp-compat xdg shell pcomplete comint ansi-osc ring parse-time iso8601
time-date format-spec auth-source cl-seq eieio eieio-core cl-macs
password-cache json subr-x map byte-opt gv ansi-color tramp-loaddefs
comp-run bytecomp byte-compile comp-common rx warnings icons cl-loaddefs
cl-lib rmc iso-transl tooltip cconv eldoc paren electric uniquify
ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type elisp-mode mwheel term/x-win x-win
term/common-win x-dnd touch-screen tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt
fringe tabulated-list replace newcomment text-mode lisp-mode prog-mode
register page tab-bar menu-bar rfn-eshadow isearch easymenu timer select
scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax font-core term/tty-colors
frame minibuffer nadvice seq simple cl-generic indonesian philippine
cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao
korean japanese eucjp-ms cp51932 hebrew greek romanian slovak czech
european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese composite emoji-zwj charscript
charprop case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help abbrev obarray oclosure
cl-preloaded button loaddefs theme-loaddefs faces cus-face macroexp
files window text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env
code-pages mule custom widget keymap hashtable-print-readable backquote
threads dbusbind inotify lcms2 dynamic-setting system-font-setting
font-render-setting cairo gtk x-toolkit xinput2 x multi-tty move-toolbar
make-network-process tty-child-frames native-compile emacs)

Memory information:
((conses 16 99174 15419) (symbols 48 9150 0) (strings 32 27260 2500)
 (string-bytes 1 981001) (vectors 16 15863)
 (vector-slots 8 203447 10697) (floats 8 30 52) (intervals 56 331 0)
 (buffers 1064 13))

Message #8 received at 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: "David J. Rosenbaum" <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>,
 João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#79485: 31.0.50; Loaded files inherit read-symbol-shorthands
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2025 09:41:19 +0300

> From: "David J. Rosenbaum" <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
> Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2025 16:58:06 -0700
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I am using read-symbol-shorthands to alias db to
> cl-destructuring-bind. It works but causes problems when I load a file
> containing a symbol that starts with db. For example, one can use emacs -Q
> with the following file.
> 
> ================================================================
> (require 'tramp-gvfs)
> 
> ;; Local Variables:
> ;; read-symbol-shorthands: (("db" . "cl-destructuring-bind"))
> ;; End:
> ================================================================
> 
> To reproduce, save the above and load it with M-x load-file. This
> results in the following error.
> 
> ================================================================
> Loading /home/david/tmp/read-symbol-example.el (source)...
> byte-code: Cannot open load file: No such file or directory, cl-destructuring-bindus
> ================================================================
> 
> The problem seems to be that tramp-gvfs requires dbus and db is being
> replaced with cl-destructuring-bind. IMO, loaded files should not inherit
> shorthands from files that require them since those shorthands are only
> valid for that particular file.

Thanks, I hope João (CC'ed) will have some ideas or suggestions.

Message #11 received at 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, "David J. Rosenbaum" <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#79485: 31.0.50; Loaded files inherit read-symbol-shorthands
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2025 11:52:33 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Here's the reply I meant to send to the tracker but sent to Eli only on
accident:

Shorthands are read at file read-time and specified exclusively as per-file
variables. So I don't understand this about inheritance from load. Also
they were designed to abbreviate prefixes, not full symbol names, so the db
idea is probably not going to work. As far as I remember, these things were
well explained in the manual...

João

On Mon, Sep 22, 2025, 07:41 Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> wrote:

> > From: "David J. Rosenbaum" <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
> > Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2025 16:58:06 -0700
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I am using read-symbol-shorthands to alias db to
> > cl-destructuring-bind. It works but causes problems when I load a file
> > containing a symbol that starts with db. For example, one can use emacs
> -Q
> > with the following file.
> >
> > ================================================================
> > (require 'tramp-gvfs)
> >
> > ;; Local Variables:
> > ;; read-symbol-shorthands: (("db" . "cl-destructuring-bind"))
> > ;; End:
> > ================================================================
> >
> > To reproduce, save the above and load it with M-x load-file. This
> > results in the following error.
> >
> > ================================================================
> > Loading /home/david/tmp/read-symbol-example.el (source)...
> > byte-code: Cannot open load file: No such file or directory,
> cl-destructuring-bindus
> > ================================================================
> >
> > The problem seems to be that tramp-gvfs requires dbus and db is being
> > replaced with cl-destructuring-bind. IMO, loaded files should not inherit
> > shorthands from files that require them since those shorthands are only
> > valid for that particular file.
>
> Thanks, I hope João (CC'ed) will have some ideas or suggestions.
>

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #14 received at 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, "David J. Rosenbaum" <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#79485: 31.0.50; Loaded files inherit read-symbol-shorthands
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2025 11:59:55 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

By the way, I understand the problem easily now. The symbol 'dbus' has the
prefix 'db' and when the example file is read 'dbus' becomes
'cl-destructuring-bindus'. This happens at read-time well before evaluation
or byte-compilation.

It happens to occur inside a 'load' or 'require' form (didn't check), but
it's completely unrelated to that operation specifically. The file intended
to be loaded is completely isolated. This is just a misunderstanding of
what shorthands were designed for and how they work. If anything is missing
in the manual, feel free to add.

João Távora

On Mon, Sep 22, 2025, 11:52 João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com> wrote:

> Here's the reply I meant to send to the tracker but sent to Eli only on
> accident:
>
> Shorthands are read at file read-time and specified exclusively as
> per-file variables. So I don't understand this about inheritance from load.
> Also they were designed to abbreviate prefixes, not full symbol names, so
> the db idea is probably not going to work. As far as I remember, these
> things were well explained in the manual...
>
> João
>
> On Mon, Sep 22, 2025, 07:41 Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> wrote:
>
>> > From: "David J. Rosenbaum" <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
>> > Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2025 16:58:06 -0700
>> >
>> > Hello,
>> >
>> > I am using read-symbol-shorthands to alias db to
>> > cl-destructuring-bind. It works but causes problems when I load a file
>> > containing a symbol that starts with db. For example, one can use emacs
>> -Q
>> > with the following file.
>> >
>> > ================================================================
>> > (require 'tramp-gvfs)
>> >
>> > ;; Local Variables:
>> > ;; read-symbol-shorthands: (("db" . "cl-destructuring-bind"))
>> > ;; End:
>> > ================================================================
>> >
>> > To reproduce, save the above and load it with M-x load-file. This
>> > results in the following error.
>> >
>> > ================================================================
>> > Loading /home/david/tmp/read-symbol-example.el (source)...
>> > byte-code: Cannot open load file: No such file or directory,
>> cl-destructuring-bindus
>> > ================================================================
>> >
>> > The problem seems to be that tramp-gvfs requires dbus and db is being
>> > replaced with cl-destructuring-bind. IMO, loaded files should not
>> inherit
>> > shorthands from files that require them since those shorthands are only
>> > valid for that particular file.
>>
>> Thanks, I hope João (CC'ed) will have some ideas or suggestions.
>>
>

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #17 received at 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: David Rosenbaum <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
To: João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com>
Cc: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>, 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#79485: 31.0.50; Loaded files inherit read-symbol-shorthands
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:04:21 -0700

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

> Also they were designed to abbreviate prefixes, not full symbol names, so
the db idea is probably not going to work. As far as I remember, these
things were well explained in the manual...

Intended or not, shorthands are being used this way by packages authors.
For example, see cond-let and llama.

> By the way, I understand the problem easily now. The symbol 'dbus' has
the prefix 'db' and when the example file is read 'dbus' becomes
'cl-destructuring-bindus'. This happens at read-time well before evaluation
or byte-compilation.

(require 'dbus) isn't in the example file though. It's in tramp-gvfs which
was precompiled when emacs was built. It is tramp-gvfs that is required
from the example file.

On Mon, Sep 22, 2025, 4:00 AM João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com> wrote:

> By the way, I understand the problem easily now. The symbol 'dbus' has the
> prefix 'db' and when the example file is read 'dbus' becomes
> 'cl-destructuring-bindus'. This happens at read-time well before evaluation
> or byte-compilation.
>
> It happens to occur inside a 'load' or 'require' form (didn't check), but
> it's completely unrelated to that operation specifically. The file intended
> to be loaded is completely isolated. This is just a misunderstanding of
> what shorthands were designed for and how they work. If anything is missing
> in the manual, feel free to add.
>
> João Távora
>
> On Mon, Sep 22, 2025, 11:52 João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Here's the reply I meant to send to the tracker but sent to Eli only on
>> accident:
>>
>> Shorthands are read at file read-time and specified exclusively as
>> per-file variables. So I don't understand this about inheritance from load.
>> Also they were designed to abbreviate prefixes, not full symbol names, so
>> the db idea is probably not going to work. As far as I remember, these
>> things were well explained in the manual...
>>
>> João
>>
>> On Mon, Sep 22, 2025, 07:41 Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> wrote:
>>
>>> > From: "David J. Rosenbaum" <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
>>> > Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2025 16:58:06 -0700
>>> >
>>> > Hello,
>>> >
>>> > I am using read-symbol-shorthands to alias db to
>>> > cl-destructuring-bind. It works but causes problems when I load a file
>>> > containing a symbol that starts with db. For example, one can use
>>> emacs -Q
>>> > with the following file.
>>> >
>>> > ================================================================
>>> > (require 'tramp-gvfs)
>>> >
>>> > ;; Local Variables:
>>> > ;; read-symbol-shorthands: (("db" . "cl-destructuring-bind"))
>>> > ;; End:
>>> > ================================================================
>>> >
>>> > To reproduce, save the above and load it with M-x load-file. This
>>> > results in the following error.
>>> >
>>> > ================================================================
>>> > Loading /home/david/tmp/read-symbol-example.el (source)...
>>> > byte-code: Cannot open load file: No such file or directory,
>>> cl-destructuring-bindus
>>> > ================================================================
>>> >
>>> > The problem seems to be that tramp-gvfs requires dbus and db is being
>>> > replaced with cl-destructuring-bind. IMO, loaded files should not
>>> inherit
>>> > shorthands from files that require them since those shorthands are only
>>> > valid for that particular file.
>>>
>>> Thanks, I hope João (CC'ed) will have some ideas or suggestions.
>>>
>>

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #20 received at 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com>
To: David Rosenbaum <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
Cc: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>, 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#79485: 31.0.50; Loaded files inherit read-symbol-shorthands
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2025 18:29:43 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On Mon, Sep 22, 2025 at 6:04 PM David Rosenbaum <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Also they were designed to abbreviate prefixes, not full symbol names,
so the db idea is probably not going to work. As far as I remember, these
things were well explained in the manual...
>
> Intended or not, shorthands are being used this way by packages authors.
For example, see cond-let and llama.


Are these packages even in Emacs?

> > By the way, I understand the problem easily now. The symbol 'dbus' has
the prefix 'db' and when the example file is read 'dbus' becomes
'cl-destructuring-bindus'. This happens at read-time well before evaluation
or byte-compilation.
>
> (require 'dbus) isn't in the example file though. It's in tramp-gvfs
which was precompiled when emacs was built. It is tramp-gvfs that is
required from the example file.

I see the problem and have reproduced it.  It's a bug.  And I don't
understand it.  The `tramp-gvfs` file should have been read long before the
shorthand was established in in the example file.

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #23 received at 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: David Rosenbaum <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
To: João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com>
Cc: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>, 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#79485: 31.0.50; Loaded files inherit read-symbol-shorthands
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:48:48 -0700

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

> Are these packages even in Emacs?

IMO using shorthands in this way is a natural way to abbreviate long
symbols. AFAICT, there is no other way to do so without polluting the
global namespace. I'm open to alternatives if there's another preferred way
to handle this use case. defalias is an obvious option but of course that
pollutes the global namespace.

> I see the problem and have reproduced it. It's a bug. And I don't
understand it.

Yeah. It's a strange one.

On Mon, Sep 22, 2025, 10:28 AM João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com> wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 22, 2025 at 6:04 PM David Rosenbaum <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Also they were designed to abbreviate prefixes, not full symbol names,
> so the db idea is probably not going to work. As far as I remember, these
> things were well explained in the manual...
> >
> > Intended or not, shorthands are being used this way by packages authors.
> For example, see cond-let and llama.
>
>
> Are these packages even in Emacs?
>
> > > By the way, I understand the problem easily now. The symbol 'dbus' has
> the prefix 'db' and when the example file is read 'dbus' becomes
> 'cl-destructuring-bindus'. This happens at read-time well before evaluation
> or byte-compilation.
> >
> > (require 'dbus) isn't in the example file though. It's in tramp-gvfs
> which was precompiled when emacs was built. It is tramp-gvfs that is
> required from the example file.
>
> I see the problem and have reproduced it.  It's a bug.  And I don't
> understand it.  The `tramp-gvfs` file should have been read long before the
> shorthand was established in in the example file.
>

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #26 received at 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: João Távora <joaotavora <at> gmail.com>
To: David Rosenbaum <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
Cc: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>, 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#79485: 31.0.50; Loaded files inherit read-symbol-shorthands
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2025 18:56:54 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On Mon, Sep 22, 2025 at 6:49 PM David Rosenbaum <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com> wrote:

> > Are these packages even in Emacs?
>
> IMO using shorthands in this way is a natural way to abbreviate long
> symbols. AFAICT, there is no other way to do so without polluting the
> global namespace. I'm open to alternatives if there's another preferred way
> to handle this use case. defalias is an obvious option but of course that
> pollutes the global namespace.
>

Polluting the global namespace is the name of the game in Elisp (and C).
Shorthands are just lipstick on a pig.  Prior to shorthands, there was
namespacing etiquette, and there still us. This means you should pick a
`consistent-longish-prefix-` for your consistent-longish-prefix.el
library.  This still holds. But it's a pain to type and read for some of
us. Shorthands are just to summarize that prefix to 'clp-'.  Any other use
is haphazard (opens the door to shadowing etc).

But what you reported is a bug, no doubt.  And fairly serious.  I never
intended for things to work like that.

João

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #29 received at 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: David Rosenbaum <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, joaotavora <at> gmail.com
Subject: Re: bug#79485: 31.0.50; Loaded files inherit read-symbol-shorthands
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2025 22:25:07 +0300

> From: David Rosenbaum <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:04:21 -0700
> Cc: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>, 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > Also they were designed to abbreviate prefixes, not full symbol names, so the db idea is probably not
> going to work. As far as I remember, these things were well explained in the manual...
> 
> Intended or not, shorthands are being used this way by packages authors. For example, see cond-let and
> llama.

So maybe we should improve our documentation to explicitly recommend
against such practices.

Emacs gives Lisp programmers enough rope to hang themselves, but
hanging themselves is probably not what they want.

Message #32 received at 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: David Rosenbaum <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, joaotavora <at> gmail.com
Subject: Re: bug#79485: 31.0.50; Loaded files inherit read-symbol-shorthands
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2025 15:17:48 -0700

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

I think package authors are already aware that all prefixes will be
replaced. It's just that there don't seem to be good alternatives for
dealing with these sorts of namespace issues as all the options have
downsides.

I already mentioned what I wrote below but I forgot to reply all and also
may not have been particularly clear anyway so I'll try again.

My preferred solution would be to make a special character cause the whole
symbol to be matched instead of just the prefix. # is already not readable
at the start of a symbol so it seems like that wouldn't cause conflicts.
For example:

;; read-symbol-shorthands: (
;; ("mvlp-" . "my-very-long-prefix-")
;; ("#db" . "cl-destructuring-bind"))

The idea is that "db" is only replaced when it matches the entire symbol
due to the #. "mvlp-" on the other hand is replaced whenever it occurs as
the prefix of a symbol.

On Mon, Sep 22, 2025 at 12:25 PM Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> wrote:

> > From: David Rosenbaum <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
> > Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:04:21 -0700
> > Cc: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>, 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> >
> > > Also they were designed to abbreviate prefixes, not full symbol names,
> so the db idea is probably not
> > going to work. As far as I remember, these things were well explained in
> the manual...
> >
> > Intended or not, shorthands are being used this way by packages authors.
> For example, see cond-let and
> > llama.
>
> So maybe we should improve our documentation to explicitly recommend
> against such practices.
>
> Emacs gives Lisp programmers enough rope to hang themselves, but
> hanging themselves is probably not what they want.
>

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #35 received at 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: David Rosenbaum <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, joaotavora <at> gmail.com
Subject: Re: bug#79485: 31.0.50; Loaded files inherit read-symbol-shorthands
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2025 09:25:01 +0300

> From: David Rosenbaum <djr7c4 <at> gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2025 15:17:48 -0700
> Cc: joaotavora <at> gmail.com, 79485 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> I think package authors are already aware that all prefixes will be replaced. It's just that there don't seem to
> be good alternatives for dealing with these sorts of namespace issues as all the options have downsides.
> 
> I already mentioned what I wrote below but I forgot to reply all and also may not have been particularly clear
> anyway so I'll try again.
> 
> My preferred solution would be to make a special character cause the whole symbol to be matched instead
> of just the prefix. # is already not readable at the start of a symbol so it seems like that wouldn't cause
> conflicts. For example:
> 
> ;; read-symbol-shorthands: (
> ;; ("mvlp-" . "my-very-long-prefix-")
> ;; ("#db" . "cl-destructuring-bind"))
> 
> The idea is that "db" is only replaced when it matches the entire symbol due to the #. "mvlp-" on the other
> hand is replaced whenever it occurs as the prefix of a symbol.

I think we should wait with enhancements until after the bug mentioned
by João is fixed.

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