Subject: bug#9877: 24.0.90; `report-emacs-bug' is even more broken now

From: "Drew Adams" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:08:11 -0700

> > Users reporting a bug with emacs -Q SHOULD NOT HAVE TO 
> > "tell Emacs how to send email".
> 
> Hmm... should I call that "mail client centric"?

No, call it "keep it simple" and "don't `fix' what ain't broke".

> There is no reliable way to send email in general without asking
> the user.

Tell that to Emacs up through version 23.

> > Emacs does NOT need to know how to send email if a user
> > has a mail client.
> 
> What is that I see?  Oh, right an "if", great!

And yet, even _if_ a user has a mail client s?he _still_ has to tell Emacs (now)
how to send email.  That's the point.  Not "great!".

And that "if" is a commonly satisfied "if", and it is becoming ever more common
with the widespread use of mobile devices.  Save the configuration of
Emacs-as-emailer for when a user _asks_ how to configure it as an emailer: on
demand only.

> > And NO, Emacs will NOT record your selection and use it 
> > thereafter.  Not if you are using emacs -Q.
> 
> Then don't use "emacs -Q" to send bug reports.  It's an 
> idiotic idea anyway.

1. The text makes no sense if you are reporting a bug with `emacs -Q'.  That's
the point.

2. No, it is not an idiotic idea to use `emacs -Q to send bug reports.  In fact:

 "If at all possible, give a full recipe for an Emacs started with the
  `-Q' option (*note Initial Options::).  This bypasses your
  `.emacs' customizations."  -- `(emacs) Checklist'

That's about the recipe, admittedly.  But Emacs also automatically inserts lots
of info about the current session into the mail body.  Obviously, if the recipe
is for `emacs -Q', it  makes sense for this session info to also reflect that
same context.

Marshalling and sending session settings for a context that is totally different
from that of the recipe is at best useless and at worst misleading and error
prone.  Not to mention that if you go to the trouble of reproducing the problem
with `emacs -Q' then you might as well report it from that same session.

Not to want to clearly, cleanly, and simply support reporting bugs from an
`emacs -Q' session is truly misguided.  With that outlook, you might as well
remove sending a bug report from the Help menu when `emacs -Q', and have
`report-emacs-bug' simply raise an error if invoked from an `emacs -Q' session.