bug#66946: 30.0.50; Elisp manual section 17.4 describes an obsolete variable

bug#66946: 30.0.50; Elisp manual section 17.4 describes an obsolete variable

[Ihor Radchenko]

Hi,

In Elisp manual, "17.4 Dynamic Loading of Individual Functions"
describes `byte-compile-dynamic' variable.

However, according to the docstring, this variable is no longer useful

    byte-compile-dynamic is a variable defined in bytecomp.el.
    
    This variable is obsolete since 27.1; not worthwhile any more.
    
    Value
    nil

It looks like the corresponding section of the manual is now obsolete
and should probably be removed.

In GNU Emacs 30.0.50 (build 30, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version
 3.24.38, cairo version 1.18.0) of 2023-10-28 built on localhost
Repository revision: b38c7d6e64423120ae1f1bc3ed01dce88c77b75e
Repository branch: master
Windowing system distributor 'The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.12101009
System Description: Gentoo Linux

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>

bug#66946: 30.0.50; Elisp manual section 17.4 describes an obsolete variable

[Stefan Kangas]

Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@posteo.net> writes:

> In Elisp manual, "17.4 Dynamic Loading of Individual Functions"
> describes `byte-compile-dynamic' variable.
>
> However, according to the docstring, this variable is no longer useful
>
>     byte-compile-dynamic is a variable defined in bytecomp.el.
>
>     This variable is obsolete since 27.1; not worthwhile any more.
>
>     Value
>     nil
>
> It looks like the corresponding section of the manual is now obsolete
> and should probably be removed.

The manual says:

       _Experience shows that using dynamic function loading provides
    benefits that are hardly measurable, so this feature is deprecated
    since Emacs 27.1._

Stefan M, any comments here?  Is it time to actually mark this stuff
obsolete?

bug#66946: 30.0.50; Elisp manual section 17.4 describes an obsolete variable

[Stefan Monnier via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors]

>> In Elisp manual, "17.4 Dynamic Loading of Individual Functions"
>> describes `byte-compile-dynamic' variable.
>>
>> However, according to the docstring, this variable is no longer useful
>>
>>     byte-compile-dynamic is a variable defined in bytecomp.el.
>>
>>     This variable is obsolete since 27.1; not worthwhile any more.
>>
>>     Value
>>     nil
>>
>> It looks like the corresponding section of the manual is now obsolete
>> and should probably be removed.
>
> The manual says:
>
>        _Experience shows that using dynamic function loading provides
>     benefits that are hardly measurable, so this feature is deprecated
>     since Emacs 27.1._
>
> Stefan M, any comments here?

Nothing specific, no.

> Is it time to actually mark this stuff obsolete?

Hmm... isn't it marked obsolete already?
Or did you mean to ask if it's time to throw away the corresponding code?


        Stefan

bug#66946: 30.0.50; Elisp manual section 17.4 describes an obsolete variable

[Stefan Kangas]

Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:

>> The manual says:
>>
>>        _Experience shows that using dynamic function loading provides
>>     benefits that are hardly measurable, so this feature is deprecated
>>     since Emacs 27.1._
>>
>> Stefan M, any comments here?
>
> Nothing specific, no.
>
>> Is it time to actually mark this stuff obsolete?
>
> Hmm... isn't it marked obsolete already?
> Or did you mean to ask if it's time to throw away the corresponding code?

You're right.  Not sure how I missed that...

I guess then the only question is if it's worth keeping it in the manual.

bug#66946: 30.0.50; Elisp manual section 17.4 describes an obsolete variable

[Stefan Kangas]

Stefan Kangas <stefankangas@gmail.com> writes:

> Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:
>
>>> The manual says:
>>>
>>>        _Experience shows that using dynamic function loading provides
>>>     benefits that are hardly measurable, so this feature is deprecated
>>>     since Emacs 27.1._
>>>
>>> Stefan M, any comments here?
>>
>> Nothing specific, no.
>>
>>> Is it time to actually mark this stuff obsolete?
>>
>> Hmm... isn't it marked obsolete already?
>> Or did you mean to ask if it's time to throw away the corresponding code?
>
> You're right.  Not sure how I missed that...

Taking another look at this.

Why not throw away the code if it's hardly measurable?  We could make it
a no-op in Emacs 30.1, and then just remove it from the manual.  It's
already been obsolete for three major versions by then.

bug#66946: 30.0.50; Elisp manual section 17.4 describes an obsolete variable

[Ihor Radchenko]

Stefan Kangas <stefankangas@gmail.com> writes:

> Why not throw away the code if it's hardly measurable?  We could make it
> a no-op in Emacs 30.1, and then just remove it from the manual.  It's
> already been obsolete for three major versions by then.

Just bumping this thread, so that it is not lost ahead of the release.

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>

bug#66946: 30.0.50; Elisp manual section 17.4 describes an obsolete variable

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Cc: 66946@debbugs.gnu.org, Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
> From: Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@posteo.net>
> Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2024 06:18:18 +0000
> 
> Stefan Kangas <stefankangas@gmail.com> writes:
> 
> > Why not throw away the code if it's hardly measurable?  We could make it
> > a no-op in Emacs 30.1, and then just remove it from the manual.  It's
> > already been obsolete for three major versions by then.
> 
> Just bumping this thread, so that it is not lost ahead of the release.

I think we lost focus and context.  What exactly is being proposed now
for the upcoming Emacs 30 release?

bug#66946: 30.0.50; Elisp manual section 17.4 describes an obsolete variable

[Stefan Kangas]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> Cc: 66946@debbugs.gnu.org, Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
>> From: Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@posteo.net>
>> Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2024 06:18:18 +0000
>>
>> Stefan Kangas <stefankangas@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>> > Why not throw away the code if it's hardly measurable?  We could make it
>> > a no-op in Emacs 30.1, and then just remove it from the manual.  It's
>> > already been obsolete for three major versions by then.
>>
>> Just bumping this thread, so that it is not lost ahead of the release.
>
> I think we lost focus and context.  What exactly is being proposed now
> for the upcoming Emacs 30 release?

I think the idea was to remove the obsolete variable
`byte-compile-dynamic` from the manual.  This has already been done in
emacs-30.

The variable is still there but is marked obsolete and documented as
having no effect.  It will get removed in some future release of Emacs;
there is no particular rush with deleting it.

I'm therefore boldly closing this bug report.