From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: proposal to make null string handling more emacs-y Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:35:07 -0400 Message-ID: References: <83d36wfcf1.fsf@gnu.org> <834ns7g9r8.fsf@gnu.org> <87ty06nnxp.fsf@catnip.gol.com> <87vckmm2z7.fsf@catnip.gol.com> <87ehr9vp0r.fsf@destructor.i-did-not-set--mail-host-address--so-tickle-me> Reply-To: rms@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1335544527 8422 80.91.229.3 (27 Apr 2012 16:35:27 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:35:27 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Jeremiah Dodds Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Apr 27 18:35:26 2012 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1SNo8h-0000X4-LZ for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:35:23 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:47811 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1SNo8g-0004rQ-Tw for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:35:22 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.92]:38876) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1SNo8V-0004JP-Uj for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:35:20 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1SNo8U-0000G1-AS for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:35:11 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([208.118.235.10]:38164) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1SNo8U-0000Ft-7R for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:35:10 -0400 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1SNo8R-0005V2-VU; Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:35:08 -0400 In-reply-to: <87ehr9vp0r.fsf@destructor.i-did-not-set--mail-host-address--so-tickle-me> (message from Jeremiah Dodds on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:20:52 -0400) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 3) X-Received-From: 208.118.235.10 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:150092 Archived-At: I believe this is because it seems that the "uh-oh i got a nil when I expected a string" error commonly happens on emacs startup, confusing new users, presumably after loading some big bunch of elisp. This sort of error -- at startup or not -- is a sign of a real bug, a variable not properly set up. Making string functions not signal errors would paper it over, which does not mean things would work correctly. -- Dr Richard Stallman President, Free Software Foundation 51 Franklin St Boston MA 02110 USA www.fsf.org www.gnu.org Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software. Use Ekiga or an ordinary phone call