bug#37926: [PATCH] Unify Gnus select methods

[Deus Max <deusmax@gmx.com>]

On Sun, Oct 27 2019, Eric Abrahamsen wrote:

> Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
>
>> dick.r.chiang@gmail.com writes:
>>
>>> Subject: [PATCH] Unify gnus select methods into one defcustom
>>
>> That was a long patch, and I'm not sure I understand what it's doing.
>> Won't this basically break everybody's .newsrc.eld files?
>
> Basically it's introducing a new customization option,
> `gnus-select-methods' to obsolete `gnus-select-method' and
> `gnus-secondary-select-methods'. The latter two options are retained,
> and obsoleted only for 'set, not 'get. Then the defcustoms are jimmied
> so that customizing any of the options also sets the other two, so that:
>
> gnus-select-methods = (cons gnus-select-method gnus-secondary-select-methods)
>
> `gnus-select-method' is still used, `gnus-secondary-select-methods' not
> anymore.
>
> It only works if you customize those options though, not setq, so I
> don't see this being practically usable...
>
> Eric

It seems to me that 'gnus-secondary-select-methods' is already set-up to
use multiple groups, so it would be *a lot* easier to move all group
definitions to 'gnus-secondary-select-methods' and deprecate
'gnus-select-method'.

The .newsrc* files would need to be updated for all unprefixed groups.
Maybe a command that asks the user for what prefix to use ?

No matter the implementation method, unifying the select methods, is
bound to create some backward compatibility issues, either with group
reading, history files etc.
Implementing it, maybe a chance to bump up the Gnus version ?
;-)

DeusM