RE: How to make Emacs popular again.

[Drew Adams]

> >> One way to register new manuals is by calling
> >> `info-lookup-maybe-add-help' to register a new help
> >> specification. Here's how info-lookup recognizes Tramp symbols from
> >> Emacs Lisp buffers, for example:...
> >>
> >> If you are not in an Emacs Lisp buffer, you can always do C-u C-h S and
> >> select `tramp-info-lookup-mode' manually.
> >
> > OK, good to know.  It would be good to incorporate
> > such an ability in an easy-to-specify/use manner.
> >
> > E.g., in `help-fns+.el' you can just specify a list
> > of manuals to use, in a user-option.
> >
> > It sounds like what you describe would need some
> > encapsulation, massaging, or interfacing, to let
> > users just do that to make use of specific manuals.
> 
> In Tramp, I've implemented a package-self hook. That is, if Tramp is
> loodad, it hooks its manual into info-lookup.
> 
> A similar approach could be recommended for other packages.

Sounds good.  However, my thinking (so far) is this:

1. Users, not packages, should decide which manuals
   to search, for this.

2. This should be as easy as possible for users:
   just set an option value to the list of manuals
   they want to use.

On the other hand, if packages need to jump through
some hoops to make their manual even available for
use by `info-lookup-symbol', then yes, that should
be done.  It would preferably be done in some general,
perhaps even automatic, way.

E.g., `info-lookup-symbol' itself should be made open
to an arbitrary list of manuals, and any new manual
should be able to add itself to those known by
`info-lookup' (or that should happen automatically).
But users should be able to easily control which
manuals are actually used.