bug#51051: Restore longlines.el to non-obsolete status

bug#51051: Restore longlines.el to non-obsolete status

[Phil Sainty]

longlines.el was marked obsolete in 24.4 on the basis that
visual-line-mode provided a better alternative, and indeed
visual-line-mode is better for wrapping lines of normal lengths;
however longlines-mode is actually very valuable for editing
files with lines that are so long that they cause performance
problems.  This is because longlines-mode converts the long
lines into short lines for editing, and therefore it will give
you good performance at *any* position in the file.

For this reason, so-long.el has supported longlines-mode as a
standard action since version 1.0.  While so-long-mode is very
fast to enable, it still won't cope well if you move point deep
into an incredibly long line.  Conversely longlines-mode is slow
to enable (as it has to break all the long lines), but it then
gives good performance everywhere in the buffer.  As such they
complement one another (and you can switch between them via the
"So Long" menu).

As longlines.el is still valuable for reasons unrelated to
visual-line-mode, I'd like it to be restored to non-obsolete
status.  I think the relationship with visual-line-mode (and
recommendation of the latter for line-wrapping in general) can
just be documented in the longlines commentary.


-Phil

bug#51051: Restore longlines.el to non-obsolete status

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Phil Sainty <psainty@orcon.net.nz> writes:

> As longlines.el is still valuable for reasons unrelated to
> visual-line-mode, I'd like it to be restored to non-obsolete
> status. 

I think that makes sense.  Does anybody else object?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no

bug#51051: Restore longlines.el to non-obsolete status

[Stefan Kangas]

unarchive 18589
reopen 18589
forcemerge 18589 51051
tags 18589 - notabug
thanks

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Phil Sainty <psainty@orcon.net.nz> writes:
>
>> As longlines.el is still valuable for reasons unrelated to
>> visual-line-mode, I'd like it to be restored to non-obsolete
>> status.
>
> I think that makes sense.  Does anybody else object?

There was a previous discussion in Bug#18589 (now merged):

    https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=18589

It seems like Stefan Monnier's take was this:

> Recently someone pointed out that using longlines-mode in a buffer that
> contain *very* long lines makes it possible to view&edit the buffer
> without suffering unbearable performance problems.  So maybe in this
> sense it's not completely obsolete.

And:

> I wouldn't mind de-obsoleting it.

The last message in Bug#18589 links here:

    https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2013-12/msg00475.html

(I'm copying in Stefan and Glenn, in case they have something to add.)

bug#51051: Restore longlines.el to non-obsolete status

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

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

> Recently someone pointed out that using longlines-mode in a buffer that
> contain *very* long lines makes it possible to view&edit the buffer
> without suffering unbearable performance problems.  So maybe in this
> sense it's not completely obsolete.

I've now unobsoleted longlines-mode in Emacs 29.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no