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

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>
> Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2021 12:02:20 -0600
> Cc: rms@gnu.org, larsi@gnus.org, 46627@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> > No, I think you are splitting hair.  Typing one more key justifies a
> > whole new command?  Really?
> 
> Wait, are you now arguing against `C-h x'?

No, if I wanted to argue against it, I'd do it before it was
installed.  I don't mind the command, although I personally will
probably never use it.

I'm arguing against the tendency to introduce a whole new discovery
framework based on completion.  I think Emacs doesn't need that in
core; whoever wants something like that, can use one of the many
packages out there which implement every possible completion paradigm
under the sun.  We as the core development team should not invest any
significant energy in developing such framework, but should instead
improve and enhance what we already have.  For example, the apropos
commands could perhaps benefit from taking some context into account,
like the current major mode and the previous apropos searches, and
improve accuracy using that.

IOW, my problem is not "C-h x", it's that "C-h x" and its ilk is or
will be seen as the beginning of a discovery framework that we will
now actively develop.

> > Displaying completion candidates doesn't use any screen estate?
> 
> It uses more screen estate to display documentation than to just display
> the command name.

Completion doesn't just display a single command name, it displays a
list, which typically takes more than one screen line.