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

>> 1. emacs -Q
>> 2. (setq enable-recursive-minibuffers t)
>> 3. M-y
>> 4. In the minibuffer (with the prompt "Yank from kill-ring: "),
>>    type M-x calendar RET (or any other command).
>> 5. M-x M-p
>>    Expected: "calendar" is inserted in the minibuffer.
>>    Observed: error saying "Beginning of history; no preceding item".
>>
>> The problem is that the minibuffer history of M-x isn't recorded when
>> you invoke M-x from within the minibuffer of read-from-kill-ring (M-y).
>> The reason is that read-from-kill-ring let binds history-add-new-input,
>> and that affects all recursive minibuffers as well, so no minibuffer
>> history is recorded until you exit the first (non-recursive) minibuffer.
>
> I suspect this can bite in more cases, including cases which don't
> involve setting `enable-recursive-minibuffers` to t.
> We should probably change the way `history-add-new-input` works so it's
> attached to a particular minibuffer rather than being dynbound.

Thanks, that's what I thought too.  Here's an attempt do just that: