From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Richard M. Stallman" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: "Non-nil means" versus "On means" in docstrings Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 01:13:38 -0400 Message-ID: References: <31729.1130452199@olgas.newt.com> Reply-To: rms@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1130563367 9793 80.91.229.2 (29 Oct 2005 05:22:47 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 05:22:47 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Oct 29 07:22:28 2005 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1EVj5r-000417-TN for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 29 Oct 2005 07:17:29 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1EVj5r-0005SL-A8 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 29 Oct 2005 01:17:27 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1EVj2C-0003hy-V5 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 29 Oct 2005 01:13:40 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1EVj2C-0003hc-90 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 29 Oct 2005 01:13:40 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1EVj2C-0003hX-6C for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 29 Oct 2005 01:13:40 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.164] (helo=fencepost.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1EVj2C-0006u4-3W for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 29 Oct 2005 01:13:40 -0400 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.34) id 1EVj2A-0000Fh-Sv; Sat, 29 Oct 2005 01:13:38 -0400 Original-To: Bill Wohler In-reply-to: <31729.1130452199@olgas.newt.com> (message from Bill Wohler on Thu, 27 Oct 2005 15:29:59 -0700) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:45074 Archived-At: I would therefore propose, for the sake of usability, to modify checkdoc-this-string-valid-engine so that it accepts "On means" as well as "Non-nil means". This is a real issue, but it opens a can of worms. Your solution makes it easier to understand in Custom and harder to understand at the Lisp level. I don't think that is a good solution; that is not the way to go. How to make things clear at both levels, as best as possible with reasonable amounts of effort, calls for a lot of thought. It should not be rushed. This is something people can think about now, but think in terms of doing it after the release. For the mean time, I don't want to change our conventions or make a few exceptions to them.