bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command'

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se> writes:

> The exercise of documenting this, and thinking about how this new
> command fits in, has made me realize that while having a keybinding for
> this is useful, and `C-h x' is the best free one we have, putting it
> there and not on `C-h c' is rather unfortunate.  (The mnemonic `M-x'
> feels forced and artificial.)

`C-h c' would be more natural for this command, and the `c' mnemonic for
`describe-key-briefly' is pretty weak -- I'm guessing it ended up there
because `C-h k' and `C-h K' were already taken?  And `c' is kinda like
`k'?

But I agree 100% with Eli that we can't change `C-h c' -- it's a key
binding that I think is deeply ingrained in many people's muscle memory.

I do, however, think that `C-h x' isn't that bad of a binding for
`describe-command', really.

> So, barring that, we could perhaps turn the entire argument around 180
> degrees: precisely because the keybinding is so bad, it should *not* be
> recommended in the TUTORIAL above `C-h f', and the right thing is
> consequently not to give it a strong spotlight but to simply have it
> "tacked on", like the after-thought it is, right after our trusty old
> `C-h f'.

No, I think it should be given precedence, like you've done in your
patch -- it is the command users should be using.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no