bug#24577: 25.1; Proposal to improve C-u C-h c behavior

[Ivan Shmakov]

>>>>> Dmitri Paduchikh <dpaduchikh@gmail.com> writes:

 > C-u C-h c does not work in read-only buffers.  And even if the buffer
 > is writable it's rarely an appropriate place to insert info about key
 > bindings.  I think it would be better if C-u C-h c placed its output
 > into kill ring and printed it in the echo area instead of the current
 > behavior.

        I believe that this behavior is a common idiom in Emacs.
        For example, M-! date RET shows the current date and time in
        echo area, while C-u M-! date RET inserts it at point – with
        both actions making sense depending on the situation.

        I guess C-u C-h c behavior is mainly useful when writing about
        Emacs itself (including writing bug reports, or conversing on
        IRC, etc.), but I can easily see it being handy nevertheless.

        Also, for read-only buffers, one can use C-h c without C-u, and
        then copy the result from the *Messages* buffer.

        On the other hand, I’m not aware of any of Emacs commands adding
        the result of some operation directly to the kill ring.

-- 
FSF associate member #7257  http://am-1.org/~ivan/      … 3013 B6A0 230E 334A