bug#36780: 26.1; request: savehist should also save log-edit-comment-ring by default

bug#36780: 26.1; request: savehist should also save log-edit-comment-ring by default

[ndame]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 640 bytes --]

When committing things with vc I often reuse previous commit messages, usually
by editing them a bit. So it's very annoying when I restart emacs and lose the commit
message history.

I now added log-edit-comment-ring to savehist-additional-variables, but it should be 
the default, because minibuffer histories are saved by default, so I'd expect vc commit
messages are also saved, though it does not use the minibuffer, but it is frequently used
input field.

I recommend adding 

  (add-to-list 'savehist-additional-variables 'log-edit-comment-ring)

to log-edit.el, so if savehist is enabled then it is saved as well.

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 749 bytes --]

bug#36780: 26.1; request: savehist should also save log-edit-comment-ring by default

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

ndame <emacsuser@freemail.hu> writes:

> When committing things with vc I often reuse previous commit messages,
> usually by editing them a bit. So it's very annoying when I restart
> emacs and lose the commit message history.
>
> I now added log-edit-comment-ring to savehist-additional-variables,
> but it should be the default, because minibuffer histories are saved
> by default, so I'd expect vc commit messages are also saved, though it
> does not use the minibuffer, but it is frequently used input field.
>
> I recommend adding 
>
>   (add-to-list 'savehist-additional-variables 'log-edit-comment-ring)
>
> to log-edit.el, so if savehist is enabled then it is saved as well.

`savehist-additional-variables' is explicitly reserved for users to add
stuff to, so I don't think it'd be appropriate for log-edit.el to add
anything to it.

But we could add a new variable, say `savehist-variables', that as a
default value could be

(log-edit-comment-ring)

and anything else the Emacs maintainers think could be saved by default.

Opinions?

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

bug#36780: 26.1; request: savehist should also save log-edit-comment-ring by default

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org>
> Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2019 07:12:57 +0200
> Cc: 36780@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > I recommend adding 
> >
> >   (add-to-list 'savehist-additional-variables 'log-edit-comment-ring)
> >
> > to log-edit.el, so if savehist is enabled then it is saved as well.
> 
> `savehist-additional-variables' is explicitly reserved for users to add
> stuff to, so I don't think it'd be appropriate for log-edit.el to add
> anything to it.
> 
> But we could add a new variable, say `savehist-variables', that as a
> default value could be
> 
> (log-edit-comment-ring)
> 
> and anything else the Emacs maintainers think could be saved by default.
> 
> Opinions?

I don't see why the solution of customizing
savehist-additional-variables by the user is not the right one.  After
all, we are not talking about minibuffer history here.

The savehist package defines itself as being for "saving the
minibuffer history".  What you suggest makes it a much more general
facility, and we then would need to review many other variables and
decide whether they are candidates for saving (some of them are
already saved by separate features).  Maybe we should do that, but
that's a much broader issue than this particular bug report.

bug#36780: 26.1; request: savehist should also save log-edit-comment-ring by default

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

> I don't see why the solution of customizing
> savehist-additional-variables by the user is not the right one.  After
> all, we are not talking about minibuffer history here.
>
> The savehist package defines itself as being for "saving the
> minibuffer history".

Oh, I thought it was a more general facility.  In that case, I'm closing
this bug report.

> What you suggest makes it a much more general facility, and we then
> would need to review many other variables and decide whether they are
> candidates for saving (some of them are already saved by separate
> features).  Maybe we should do that, but that's a much broader issue
> than this particular bug report.

Yup.

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

bug#36780: 26.1; request: savehist should also save log-edit-comment-ring by default

[Drew Adams]

> > `savehist-additional-variables' is explicitly reserved for users to
> > add stuff to, so I don't think it'd be appropriate for log-edit.el
> > to add anything to it.

+1

> I don't see why the solution of customizing
> savehist-additional-variables by the user is not the right one.
> After all, we are not talking about minibuffer history here.

+1

> The savehist package defines itself as being for "saving the
> minibuffer history".  What you suggest makes it a much more general
> facility, and we then would need to review many other variables and
> decide whether they are candidates for saving (some of them are
> already saved by separate features).  Maybe we should do that, but
> that's a much broader issue than this particular bug report.

YAGNI.  Emacs doesn't need to pre-populate a list
of variables to save.  `savehist-additional-variables'
is the right way (for users) to save variables, IMO.