23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

[Leo]

Please describe exactly what actions triggered the bug
and the precise symptoms of the bug:

Put the point in any word but not in a url and eval (thing-at-point
'url) it will returns a url like "http://something", where 'something'
is the word under point.

If Emacs crashed, and you have the Emacs process in the gdb debugger,
please include the output from the following gdb commands:
    `bt full' and `xbacktrace'.
If you would like to further debug the crash, please read the file
/usr/local/packages/emacs/share/emacs/23.0.0/etc/DEBUG for instructions.


In GNU Emacs 23.0.0.8 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.10.14)
 of 2007-08-29 on sl392.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk
Windowing system distributor `The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.10300000
configured using `configure  '--prefix=/usr/local/packages/emacs' '--with-kerberos5' '--enable-locallisppath=/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp' '--without-toolkit-scroll-bars' '--with-xft' '--enable-font-backend' '--with-x-toolkit=yes''

Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: en_GB.UTF-8
  value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix
  default-enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: ERC

Minor modes in effect:
  erc-spelling-mode: t
  erc-page-mode: t
  erc-menu-mode: t
  erc-services-mode: t
  erc-autojoin-mode: t
  erc-button-mode: t
  erc-ring-mode: t
  erc-pcomplete-mode: t
  erc-track-mode: t
  erc-track-minor-mode: t
  erc-match-mode: t
  erc-fill-mode: t
  erc-stamp-mode: t
  erc-netsplit-mode: t
  erc-smiley-mode: t
  erc-readonly-mode: t
  erc-scrolltobottom-mode: t
  flyspell-mode: t
  dired-omit-mode: t
  recentf-mode: t
  icomplete-mode: t
  show-paren-mode: t
  savehist-mode: t
  xterm-mouse-mode: t
  delete-selection-mode: t
  global-auto-revert-mode: t
  display-time-mode: t
  minibuffer-indicate-depth-mode: t
  partial-completion-mode: t
  which-function-mode: t
  shell-dirtrack-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  global-auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  column-number-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t

Recent input:
t h e SPC b r o w s e r SPC c a n SPC n o t SPC f i 
n d <return> C-x o <tab> <return> <down> <down> <down> 
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> 
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> 
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> 
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> 
<down> <down> <down> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> 
<up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> 
<up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> 
<up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> 
<up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> C-x o <down> <down> <down> 
<down> <up> <up> <down> <down> <down> <left> <left> 
<left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> 
<left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> 
<left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> C-x 
0 C-x k <return> C-x b <return> i SPC w a n t SPC t 
o SPC a v o i d SPC d <backspace> o p e n SPC m y SPC 
b r o w s e r SPC t o SPC a SPC u r l SPC l i k e SPC 
t h a t <return> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> 
<up> <up> <down> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
<right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> <right> 
M-: ( t h i n g - a t - p o i <tab> SPC ' u r l <return> 
M-x r e b <tab> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> 
<backspace> e p <tab> o <tab> r <tab> b <tab> <ret
urn>

Recent messages:
Using try-expand-dabbrev
Type C-x 1 to remove help window.  
Quit
Using try-expand-dabbrev
Using try-expand-list
"http://that"
call-interactively: End of buffer
mouse-2, RET: find function's definition
"http://create"
Loading emacsbug...done

RE: 23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

[Drew Adams]

> Put the point in any word but not in a url and eval (thing-at-point
> 'url) it will returns a url like "http://something", where 'something'
> is the word under point.

That looks good to me. Why do you think it is not a valid URL? 

Re: 23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

[Leo]

On 2007-08-29 19:51 +0100, Drew Adams wrote:
>> Put the point in any word but not in a url and eval (thing-at-point
>> 'url) it will returns a url like "http://something", where 'something'
>> is the word under point.
>
> That looks good to me. Why do you think it is not a valid URL? 

Because a url created by concat "http://" and the word under point is
unlikely to be accessible by a browser.

-- 
Leo <sdl.web AT gmail.com>                         (GPG Key: 9283AA3F)

         Gnus is one component of the Emacs operating system.

Re: 23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

[Leo]

On 2007-08-29 19:40 +0100, Leo wrote:
> Put the point in any word but not in a url and eval (thing-at-point
> 'url) it will returns a url like "http://something", where 'something'
> is the word under point.

`ffap-url-at-point' returns NIL.

-- 
Leo <sdl.web AT gmail.com>                         (GPG Key: 9283AA3F)

         Gnus is one component of the Emacs operating system.

Re: 23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

[Tassilo Horn]

Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com> writes:

Hi Leo,

>>> Put the point in any word but not in a url and eval (thing-at-point
>>> 'url) it will returns a url like "http://something", where
>>> 'something' is the word under point.
>>
>> That looks good to me. Why do you think it is not a valid URL?
>
> Because a url created by concat "http://" and the word under point is
> unlikely to be accessible by a browser.

... unless the word is www.google.com or savannah.gnu.org.  So to me the
behavior looks good.  I think it's much better to return an URL that may
not exist than always returning nil if the URL lacks the protocol spec.

Bye,
Tassilo
-- 
People sometimes  ask me if it  is a sin in  the Church of  Emacs to use
vi. Using a free  version of vi is not a sin; it  is a penance. So happy
hacking. (Richard M. Stallman)

Re: 23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

[Leo]

On 2007-08-29 20:49 +0100, Tassilo Horn wrote:
> ... unless the word is www.google.com or savannah.gnu.org.  So to me the
> behavior looks good.  I think it's much better to return an URL that may
> not exist than always returning nil if the URL lacks the protocol spec.

but those examples are easy to parse as they have '.' in them i.e. we
can improve thing-at-point.

-- 
Leo <sdl.web AT gmail.com>                         (GPG Key: 9283AA3F)

         Gnus is one component of the Emacs operating system.

Re: 23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

[Davis Herring]

>> ... unless the word is www.google.com or savannah.gnu.org.  So to me the
>> behavior looks good.  I think it's much better to return an URL that may
>> not exist than always returning nil if the URL lacks the protocol spec.
>
> but those examples are easy to parse as they have '.' in them i.e. we
> can improve thing-at-point.

Not really.  I'm able to resolve addresses for "localhost" and "hk" (the
gTLD for Hong Kong), as well as a variety of names that are meaningful
only on this network.  If I ask Emacs to interpret any of those names as a
URL, it would be silly of it to reject them and not "fsf.org"!

Davis

-- 
This product is sold by volume, not by mass.  If it appears too dense or
too sparse, it is because mass-energy conversion has occurred during
shipping.

Re: 23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

[Leo]

On 2007-08-29 22:25 +0100, Davis Herring wrote:
> Not really.  I'm able to resolve addresses for "localhost"

A special case which can be handled.

> and "hk" (the gTLD for Hong Kong), as well as a variety of names that
> are meaningful only on this network. 

Can you give me a specific example?

> If I ask Emacs to interpret any of those names as a URL, it would be
> silly of it to reject them and not "fsf.org"!

However, 99.9% a word under point is not a valid url.

-- 
Leo <sdl.web AT gmail.com>                         (GPG Key: 9283AA3F)

         Gnus is one component of the Emacs operating system.

Re: 23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

[Davis Herring]

>> and "hk" (the gTLD for Hong Kong), as well as a variety of names that
>> are meaningful only on this network.
>
> Can you give me a specific example?

I just mean the unqualified hostnames of machines on this network.  "www",
"int", "lanleventsext", "phonebook", "financial", etc.

Davis

-- 
This product is sold by volume, not by mass.  If it appears too dense or
too sparse, it is because mass-energy conversion has occurred during
shipping.

RE: 23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

[Drew Adams]

> > Can you give me a specific example?
>
> I just mean the unqualified hostnames of machines on this network.  "www",
> "int", "lanleventsext", "phonebook", "financial", etc.

Yes.

URL syntax is quite variable. See http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3986.txt.

Notice that "path" can be empty (no more slashes after http://, ftp:// or
whatever). This means that a URL with only http:// followed by an
"authority" (such as anythingyouwant) is valid URL syntax.

http://anythingyouwant is thus a valid URL, in terms of syntax. Whether or
not it links to something is another matter. But you have no guarantee that
http://www.google.com links to anything right now, either.

If you want validity in terms of live link target and not just URL syntax,
then the code would have to actually try the link. Some programs do just
that to test URL "validity". In this case, I'd say that that is not what is
called for, and Emacs already DTRT.

Re: 23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

[Leo]

On 2007-08-29 23:37 +0100, Drew Adams wrote:
> http://anythingyouwant is thus a valid URL, in terms of syntax. Whether or
> not it links to something is another matter. But you have no guarantee that
> http://www.google.com links to anything right now, either.

Emacs pick the word under point and add "http://" to it to form a valid
i.e. there is a change from invalid to valid that is not...

>
> If you want validity in terms of live link target and not just URL
>syntax,
> then the code would have to actually try the link. Some programs do just
> that to test URL "validity". In this case, I'd say that that is not what is
> called for, and Emacs already DTRT.

DTRT

-- 
Leo <sdl.web AT gmail.com>                         (GPG Key: 9283AA3F)

         Gnus is one component of the Emacs operating system.

RE: 23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

[Drew Adams]

> > http://anythingyouwant is thus a valid URL, in terms of syntax.
> > Whether or not it links to something is another matter. But you
> > have no guarantee that http://www.google.com links to anything
> > right now, either.
>
> Emacs pick the word under point and add "http://" to it to form a valid
> i.e. there is a change from invalid to valid that is not...
>
> > If you want validity in terms of live link target and not just URL
> > syntax, then the code would have to actually try the link. Some
> > programs do just that to test URL "validity". In this case, I'd
> > say that that is not what is called for, and Emacs already DTRT.
>
> DTRT

It's not clear to me what you're saying. I think you're saying that you
would prefer that the code return nil, saying that there is no URL at point,
rather than returning a valid URL formed by prepending http:// to the text
at point.

The latter behavior is deliberate; it is a feature. If what is under the
cursor is already a valid URL, then that is returned as is. This includes
URLs with different schemes, not just http. If what is under the cursor is
not a valid URL because it is lacking a scheme, then Emacs prepends the http
scheme. That's the design.

This behavior is similar to that found in most Web browsers and mail
clients: you can type just www.google.com, and http:// is automatically
understood: http://www.google.com.

I think this design is a good one. You might disagree.

Re: 23.0.0; (thing-at-point 'url) returns invalid urls

[Thien-Thi Nguyen]

() Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com>
() Wed, 29 Aug 2007 23:42:24 +0100

   Emacs pick the word under point and add "http://" to it to form a valid
   i.e. there is a change from invalid to valid that is not...

how about adding a variable: `thing-at-point-url-autoprefix-p'.
if nil, consider the case w/o "http://" to be invalid, so
that (thing-at-point 'url) => nil.  if t, do what it does now,
which is (from thingatpt.el 1.43 from cvs) to heuristically
add one of either "ftp://" or "http://".

thi