Re: xref and leaving "temporary" buffers open

[martin rudalics <rudalics@gmx.at>]

 > Should we disregard this issue and say that xref doesn't have to close
 > the buffers it needed to open during operation?

I'd try to implement some sort of heuristics, like adding a buffer to
some sort of a cache only after its file has been visited by an
application (like xref) at least N times and removing a buffer from that
cache if it has not been visited by an application (like xref) for at
least T minutes.

 > Another problem with that might be the contents getting out of date:
 >  what if the user doesn't have global-auto-revert-mode on? Then an
 >  xref search might get erroneous results from those buffers. Would it
 >  be allowed to call `revert-buffer' anywhere, as long as the buffer
 >  doesn't have unsaved changes?

This should be made customizable.

 > Certain other programs might have a project and all its files loaded,
 > but still display only a few of them as the ones the user is editing
 > (probably using tabs). Should Emacs have a similar distinction,
 > between loaded and open buffers?

I think so.  Each buffer should maintain a list of all the applications
that visited its file and all operations on buffer lists should be aware
of it.

martin