Re: Problems with info (emacs version)

[Luc Teirlinck <teirllm@dms.auburn.edu>]

Richard Stallman wrote:

       5.  Last and definitely worst.  The user copies part of the info
	   buffer into an emacs mail buffer for somebody elses information.
	   What the receiver receives is not what the sender believes he
	   sent.  Granted, the hidden text does not exactly consist of
	   obscenities or such (although I did not yet try to read these node
	   names backward to get all the Satanic messages), but this is still
	   really bad.

   I am surprised you think this is such a serious issue.
   Could you provide a test case where it causes a real problem?

It all depends on what you consider a "real" problem.  If I send
somebody mail, I like to now exactly what I sent.  Does that seem
unreasonable?

Assume that I am a newbie knowing nothing about the subtleties of the
display property.

I am asking somebody for help about how to use info and mail him a
copy of part of my info file:

* du                 Report on disk usage.
* echo               Print a line of text.

Without telling me, Emacs sends the following:

* du: (fileutils)du invocation.                 Report on disk usage.
* echo: (sh-utils)echo invocation.              Print a line of text.

I am careful, because I like to have exact records of everything I
mailed, so I FCC to my mail archive file.  Emacs copies:

* du                 Report on disk usage.
* echo               Print a line of text.

to my mail archive file.

The other person sends me all kinds of explanations about how I can
use the "(fileutils)du invocation" with the g command or whatever.

I say: but there is no "(fileutils)du invocation" in my buffer.  He
says: yes, it is in the stuff you mailed me.  I say, I never sent you
that, I have an archive file and I double checked what I sent you...

Do you consider the above a "real" problem?  I do.

Sincerely,

Luc.