Re: discoverability, better defaults and which-key in Emacs

[Dmitry Gutov <dmitry@gutov.dev>]

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On 07/02/2024 14:35, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>> Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2024 01:12:37 +0200
>> Cc: Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>, Po Lu <luangruo@yahoo.com>,
>>   Jeremy Bryant <jb@jeremybryant.net>, Emacs Devel <emacs-devel@gnu.org>
>> From: Dmitry Gutov <dmitry@gutov.dev>
>>
>> How about this?
>>
>> Since echo-keystrokes is 1 second by default, which defines a
>> significant timeout already, I think this can work without a yet another
>> timer.
> 
> LGTM, but it should be a defcustom.

All right, see the attached.

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diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS
index ee7462cb2aa..d4b8bf21f94 100644
--- a/etc/NEWS
+++ b/etc/NEWS
@@ -307,6 +307,9 @@ between the auto save file and the current file.
 ** 'ffap-lax-url' now defaults to nil.
 Previously, it was set to t but this broke remote file name detection.
 
+** Unfinished commands' echo now ends with a suggestion to use Help
+Customize 'echo-keystrokes-help' to nil to hide it.
+
 \f
 * Editing Changes in Emacs 30.1
 
diff --git a/lisp/cus-start.el b/lisp/cus-start.el
index 7e0b64e9067..3fe62c8d0da 100644
--- a/lisp/cus-start.el
+++ b/lisp/cus-start.el
@@ -371,6 +371,7 @@ minibuffer-prompt-properties--setter
 	     (auto-save-timeout auto-save (choice (const :tag "off" nil)
 						  (integer :format "%v")))
 	     (echo-keystrokes minibuffer number)
+             (echo-keystrokes-help minibuffer boolean "30.1")
 	     (polling-period keyboard float)
 	     (double-click-time mouse (restricted-sexp
 				       :match-alternatives (integerp 'nil 't)))
diff --git a/src/keyboard.c b/src/keyboard.c
index 1f7253a7da1..6d3db5ab615 100644
--- a/src/keyboard.c
+++ b/src/keyboard.c
@@ -589,6 +589,15 @@ echo_dash (void)
   AUTO_STRING (dash, "-");
   kset_echo_string (current_kboard,
 		    concat2 (KVAR (current_kboard, echo_string), dash));
+
+  if (echo_keystrokes_help)
+    {
+      AUTO_STRING (help, " (\\`C-h' for help)");
+      kset_echo_string (current_kboard,
+			concat2 (KVAR (current_kboard, echo_string),
+				 calln (Qsubstitute_command_keys, help)));
+    }
+
   echo_now ();
 }
 
@@ -13228,6 +13237,10 @@ syms_of_keyboard (void)
 If the value is zero, don't echo at all.  */);
   Vecho_keystrokes = make_fixnum (1);
 
+  DEFVAR_BOOL ("echo-keystrokes-help", echo_keystrokes_help,
+	       doc: /* Non-nil means append small help text to the unfinished commands' echo. */);
+  echo_keystrokes_help = true;
+
   DEFVAR_LISP ("polling-period", Vpolling_period,
 	      doc: /* Interval between polling for input during Lisp execution.
 The reason for polling is to make C-g work to stop a running program.