bug#1199: bookmark.el in Emacs 22 doesn't handle old-style bookmarks correctly

bug#1199: bookmark.el in Emacs 22 doesn't handle old-style bookmarks correctly

[Drew Adams]

If you use Emacs 20 to create a bookmark, then Emacs 22 chokes on that
bookmark. Emacs 23 is fixed in this regard.
 
The problem is in bookmark-get-bookmark-record. It blithely assumes
the new format.  The cdr gives the alist, and the car of that is not
the alist, but just its first element - e.g. (filename . "/foo/bar")
instead of ((filename . "/foo/bar")...). Then, bookmark-get-filename
tries to do `(cdr (assq 'filename' of (filename . "/foo/bar"), which
gives an error message that is incomprehensible to a user.
 
To reproduce: Use Emacs 20 to add a bookmark of the old style, then
use Emacs 22, say (bookmark-jump-noselect name-of-old-bookmark).
 
The Emacs 23 fix for this would seem to be worth backporting, if there
is to ever be an Emacs 22.4.
 

In GNU Emacs 22.3.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600)
 of 2008-09-06 on SOFT-MJASON
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 5.1.2600
configured using `configure --with-gcc (3.4)'
 

bug#1199: acknowledged by developer (control message for bug 1199)

[Drew Adams]

I received two mails just now indicating this bug closure (likewise, for several
other bugs): the one below and another with subject "[Emacs-bug-tracker]
Processed: control message for bug 1199".

Neither mail gave a reason for the bug closure.
In fact, neither message said anything useful from the person who closed the
bug.  The one below at least has a link to the actual reply/explanation.

This information used to be available directly in the mail the filer receives,
not just in a page on the bug-tracker web site.  Getting a link to the bug
thread is a plus, but it doesn't outweigh the minus of removing this info from
the message itself.  Why make users switch from reading mail to using a web
browser, just to see the closure explanation?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: GNU bug Tracking System [mailto:help-debbugs@gnu.org] 
> Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 6:33 PM
> To: Drew Adams
> Subject: bug#1199 acknowledged by developer (control message 
> for bug 1199)
> 
> This is an automatic notification regarding your bug report
> #1199: bookmark.el in Emacs 22 doesn't handle old-style 
> bookmarks correctly,
> which was filed against the emacs22 package.
> 
> Thank you for your report, which has now been closed.
> You can view the full report at
> http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=1199
> 
> If you require further information, please followup to 
> 1199@debbugs.gnu.org.
> 
> debbugs.gnu.org maintainers
> (administrator, GNU bugs database)
> 
>