From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.ciao.gmane.io!not-for-mail From: Stefan Monnier Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: What is the most useful potential feature which Emacs lacks? Date: Thu, 28 May 2020 09:18:42 -0400 Message-ID: References: <87k11htj96.fsf@dustycloud.org> <87pnb7u70r.fsf@red-bean.com> <87y2pvrzho.fsf@dustycloud.org> <87y2pvqhuj.fsf@red-bean.com> <87pnaog13i.fsf@red-bean.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="ciao.gmane.io:159.69.161.202"; logging-data="69267"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/28.0.50 (gnu/linux) Cc: cwebber@dustycloud.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org, Richard Stallman , ndame@protonmail.com To: Karl Fogel Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Thu May 28 15:20:07 2020 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1jeIS6-000HuK-J2 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Thu, 28 May 2020 15:20:06 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:34460 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1jeIS5-0000YD-In for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Thu, 28 May 2020 09:20:05 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:40636) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1jeIRK-0008QC-JT for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 28 May 2020 09:19:18 -0400 Original-Received: from mailscanner.iro.umontreal.ca ([132.204.25.50]:5605) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1jeIQv-0003fO-Fv; Thu, 28 May 2020 09:19:17 -0400 Original-Received: from pmg3.iro.umontreal.ca (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pmg3.iro.umontreal.ca (Proxmox) with ESMTP id 8920A440F0E; Thu, 28 May 2020 09:18:51 -0400 (EDT) Original-Received: from mail01.iro.umontreal.ca (unknown [172.31.2.1]) by pmg3.iro.umontreal.ca (Proxmox) with ESMTP id 1C6DC440F16; Thu, 28 May 2020 09:18:50 -0400 (EDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=iro.umontreal.ca; s=mail; t=1590671930; bh=2pnQu6KiHUSHmUgsjyPff2pHhEFJ2FL8Yh7cl+BdbWw=; h=From:To:Cc:Subject:References:Date:In-Reply-To:From; b=g4ph4xMmRLrRfVNaKmEgo43kFTllU7++HHKs+xGz/TXttrOy7E4X1OQd5U+neGjB9 pBhGsZdd1skmewXrJU3k5Vm0xe+Fxs2hBn8vtTdSSIXhW3eSwSI+9YEBJHn6+GAQxF VTU1Dx511bnpsiq5r7yuvMK9BZLaqhcnepu5inL0MK0oPlOSU9XGwm3K/HKxM6PmvT QB8wj9bjEJiQxR7/Xic9njJBQu9MZbnqby304gMaPNJtNEHqnLj/I1XTM5mkYah56o z5H+LhJWJ2dRzLH5C4OJGCDq0HKd5TEGI3Suvj0b49ruUmpHcX6+ephuXHhvCoJ1aW orzlQBkG5PekA== Original-Received: from alfajor (unknown [216.154.27.250]) by mail01.iro.umontreal.ca (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id B783C1207B4; Thu, 28 May 2020 09:18:49 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: <87pnaog13i.fsf@red-bean.com> (Karl Fogel's message of "Wed, 27 May 2020 23:00:49 -0500") Received-SPF: pass client-ip=132.204.25.50; envelope-from=monnier@iro.umontreal.ca; helo=mailscanner.iro.umontreal.ca X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: First seen = 2020/05/28 09:18:51 X-ACL-Warn: Detected OS = Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] X-Spam_score_int: -42 X-Spam_score: -4.3 X-Spam_bar: ---- X-Spam_report: (-4.3 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, DKIM_SIGNED=0.1, DKIM_VALID=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_AU=-0.1, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_MED=-2.3, SPF_PASS=-0.001, URIBL_BLOCKED=0.001 autolearn=_AUTOLEARN X-Spam_action: no action X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 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-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "Emacs-devel" Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.devel:251544 Archived-At: >>One idea: the first time a user tries to specify a directory in find-file, >>display a help screen to explain what that means, and describe a few >>usual ways out. >>Do you think this would ameliorate the problem? > My guess is it would ameliorate the problem for some users, and scare off > other ones (ones who are less patient, or, put another way, who are less > willing to invest time in reading an explanatory screen like that to figure > out what just happened). Maybe we could simply use the "confirm" mechanism. I.e. don't put any explanatory text, but just emit "[confirm]" and wait for a second RET, just like we do when `C-x C-f` specifies a non-existing file. Stefan