a property "definition-type" would help find macro-defined tests

a property "definition-type" would help find macro-defined tests

[Stephen Gildea]

The find-function feature of Emacs cannot find "ert-deftest"
forms generated by a macro.  (The find-func library does look
through macro expansions in its search, but the search is too
specific to find "ert-deftest" forms.)

Function "find-function-search-for-symbol" is passed a "type"
for the thing to look for, but that type is based on the
caller's idea of what the thing is.  We need a way to say what
the definer thinks the definition looks like.

The existing property "definition-name" isn't helpful here
because often the call to a test-defining macro contains test
data only.

I propose a new property, "definition-type", that a macro could
put on a symbol.  If present, "find-function-search-for-symbol"
would use that type instead of the passed-in type.

With this enhancement, any subsystem that uses a macro to
define objects could
 - have the macro set property "definition-type" on the
   symbols it defines, and
 - add an entry to "find-function-regexp-alist" saying how to
   find the new type.

Concretely, here's the code change I'm proposing:

diff --git a/lisp/emacs-lisp/find-func.el b/lisp/emacs-lisp/find-func.el
index f3ddf9f81c9..df1eb8deae0 100644
--- a/lisp/emacs-lisp/find-func.el
+++ b/lisp/emacs-lisp/find-func.el
@@ -409,6 +409,8 @@ find-function-search-for-symbol
   ;; Some functions are defined as part of the construct
   ;; that defines something else.
   (while (and (symbolp symbol) (get symbol 'definition-name))
     (setq symbol (get symbol 'definition-name)))
+  (setq type (or (get symbol 'definition-type)
+                 type))
   (if (string-match "\\`src/\\(.*\\.\\(c\\|m\\)\\)\\'" library)
       (find-function-C-source symbol (match-string 1 library) type)


Does this seem like a generally useful addition?

 < Stephen