bug#2944: 23.0.91; vc-dir confusing at startup

bug#2944: 23.0.91; vc-dir confusing at startup

[Richard M Stallman]

I just ran vc-dir for the first time.  It worked -- after a while.
However, at first it displayed just a few lines of info
about the overall VC handling of the directory.  It seemed
to be doing the wrong job.

So I started to wonder if that were the wrong command.
I looked at the doc string and it did not clarify the question.
It says it "shows the VC status for DIR".  The few lines
that were displayed seemed to fit that description.

Eventually the info on files did appear.  But this is a bug anyway.

I think the doc string should be fixed, and the buffer should
start out containing explanatory text such as
"The status of files is being computed
and will be displayed here when that is done."



In GNU Emacs 23.0.91.2 (mipsel-unknown-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.12.11)
 of 2009-03-18 on lemote-yeeloong
configured using `configure  'CFLAGS=-O0 -g -Wno-pointer-sign' 'mipsel-unknown-linux-gnu' 'build_alias=mipsel-unknown-linux-gnu' 'host_alias=mipsel-unknown-linux-gnu' 'target_alias=mipsel-unknown-linux-gnu''

Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix
  default-enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: RMAIL

Minor modes in effect:
  diff-auto-refine-mode: t
  gpm-mouse-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  tool-bar-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  global-auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t
  abbrev-mode: t

Recent input:
ESC b M C-e , RET SPC SPC t h e SPC S w i n d l e . 
RET RET I SPC r e c o m m e n d SPC t h a t SPC p e 
o l DEL p l e SPC b u SPC DEL y SPC t h e i r SPC b 
o o k s SPC w i t h SPC c a s h SPC i n SPC a SPC b 
o o SPC DEL k SPC s t o r e . RET i f SPC t h e y C-a 
ESC c C-e SPC w a n t SPC t o SPC o r d e r SPC a SPC 
b o o k SPC o n - l i n e , SPC I SPC r e c o m m e 
n d SPC t h e y SPC b u y SPC i t SPC f r o m RET t 
h e SPC p u b l i s h e r . RET RET Y o u SPC m i g 
h t SPC w a n t SPC t o SPC f o r w a r d SPC t h i 
s . RET C-c C-c o a m a z o TAB RET d d u d d d d SPC 
d SPC SPC ESC v SPC SPC d d x SPC d x d d x x ESC s 
j r a s a t a RET ESC s r m s - a s s i s t RET C-a 
d x d d x d d d x SPC ESC x r e p o r t SPC e m a s 
DEL c s RET

Recent messages:
Expunging deleted messages...done
Expunging deleted messages...done
Expunging deleted messages...done
Expunging deleted messages...done
Rmail search for jrasata...
Search failed: jrasata
Rmail search for rms-assist...done
Expunging deleted messages...done
Expunging deleted messages...done
Expunging deleted messages...done

bug#2944: 23.0.91; vc-dir confusing at startup

[Dan Nicolaescu]

Richard M Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

  > I just ran vc-dir for the first time.  It worked -- after a while.
  > However, at first it displayed just a few lines of info
  > about the overall VC handling of the directory.  It seemed
  > to be doing the wrong job.
  > 
  > So I started to wonder if that were the wrong command.
  > I looked at the doc string and it did not clarify the question.
  > It says it "shows the VC status for DIR".  The few lines
  > that were displayed seemed to fit that description.
  > 
  > Eventually the info on files did appear.  But this is a bug anyway.
  > 
  > I think the doc string should be fixed, and the buffer should
  > start out containing explanatory text such as
  > "The status of files is being computed
  > and will be displayed here when that is done."

The problem with not showing something in VC buffer is a common one for
asynchronous VC commands (diff, log).  The solution we have in emacs-23
for that is to add [Working...] on the modeline while such command is in
progress.  Was that not obvious enough?  Does the face for that message
need to stand out a bit more?

Please feel free to fix the doc string the way you want it.

bug#2944: 23.0.91; vc-dir confusing at startup

[Richard M Stallman]

    The problem with not showing something in VC buffer is a common one for
    asynchronous VC commands (diff, log).  The solution we have in emacs-23
    for that is to add [Working...] on the modeline while such command is in
    progress.  Was that not obvious enough?  Does the face for that message
    need to stand out a bit more?

It will be clear enough to people who look for it, I suppose,
but I did not notice it at all.  I think it is desirable to put something
temporarily in the buffer saying "the data is not really here yet".

bug#2944: 23.0.91; vc-dir confusing at startup

[Dan Nicolaescu]

severity 2944 wishlist
quit

Richard M Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

  >     The problem with not showing something in VC buffer is a common one for
  >     asynchronous VC commands (diff, log).  The solution we have in emacs-23
  >     for that is to add [Working...] on the modeline while such command is in
  >     progress.  Was that not obvious enough?  Does the face for that message
  >     need to stand out a bit more?
  > 
  > It will be clear enough to people who look for it, I suppose,
  > but I did not notice it at all.  I think it is desirable to put something
  > temporarily in the buffer saying "the data is not really here yet".

I disagree there's a need to add another mechanism to show work is in
progress.  If someone can write a clean patch that shows that message
and has not other ill effects, I won't oppose it.  But I don't plan to
change anything in this respect.

Processed: Re: bug#2944: 23.0.91; vc-dir confusing at startup

[Emacs bug Tracking System]

Processing commands for control@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com:

> severity 2944 wishlist
bug#2944: 23.0.91; vc-dir confusing at startup
Severity set to `wishlist' from `normal'

> quit
Stopping processing here.

Please contact me if you need assistance.

Don Armstrong
(administrator, Emacs bugs database)

bug#2944: 23.0.91; vc-dir confusing at startup

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Richard M Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

> I just ran vc-dir for the first time.  It worked -- after a while.
> However, at first it displayed just a few lines of info
> about the overall VC handling of the directory.  It seemed
> to be doing the wrong job.
>
> So I started to wonder if that were the wrong command.
> I looked at the doc string and it did not clarify the question.
> It says it "shows the VC status for DIR".  The few lines
> that were displayed seemed to fit that description.
>
> Eventually the info on files did appear.  But this is a bug anyway.
>
> I think the doc string should be fixed, and the buffer should
> start out containing explanatory text such as
> "The status of files is being computed
> and will be displayed here when that is done."

(I'm going through old bug reports that unfortunately weren't
resolved at the time.)

It seems like you fixed the doc string a couple days after this.

As for the explanatory text in the vc -- I haven't seen much request for
that:  The mode line says [waiting] in bold, which seems sufficient, and
is how we do asynchronous stuff like this in several other modes.

So I'm closing this bug report.

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