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

[Stefan Kangas]

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

>> So, barring that,
>
> Why bar it, without trying?  Just posing the question
> should immediately let you know whether there is lots
> of opposition (in emacs-devel, at least).  If there
> isn't, that's not proof that there won't be opposition
> in the wider world, of course.  But if there's lots of
> opposition at least you'll feel better about binding
> it to `C-h x'.  If posed, the alternative should be
> mentioned, including the binding of new key `C-h x'.

Well, sure.  Thanks for your support.  But I don't think I will be able
to muster the energy for another controversial thread at this point.

(And Eli has expressed strong opposition to the idea already.  We should
probably avoid directing the attention of the project to an idea with
low chances of success.)

Perhaps we can all just learn to like `C-h x'.  It's not too bad; it's
just ugly and hard to remember.  But OTOH, we already have plenty of
keybindings like that -- it's not the end of the world.

BTW, maybe `C-h x' is even easier for a new user to remember soon after
learning `M-x'.  Maybe users don't even think of "commands" but in terms
of "which key does what"?  So I don't know... maybe it's okay.

The big upside is that it does save us from having to do a breaking
change.  Even if that breaking change is IMHO very small, and will
probably be seen like an improvement by most, it might be upsetting to a
subset of users.

>> I'm still rather undecided on what's best here.
>> Thoughts?
>
> IMO, this should be combined with the other changes
> I mentioned in emacs-devel:
>
> 1. Add `describe-option', and bind it to, e.g., `C-h o'.
> 2. Change `describe-function' and `describe-variable',
>    so that, with a prefix arg, they do `describe-command'
>    and `describe-option'.
>
> (In terms of doc, #2 lessens the need to advertise
> those new commands.)

Good ideas.  I think `describe-option' is worth thinking about.
As for putting it `C-h o', I'm not sure such a breaking change would be
worth it: `describe-option' would be less important than
`describe-command', and `describe-symbol' is more important than
`describe-key-briefly'.

I see your point regarding #2, but thinking about it a bit I think it is
preferable to have an easier keybinding than `C-u C-h f' for commands.
And if we have `describe-command' on `C-h x', perhaps the prefix
argument to `describe-function' is just redundant?