bug#52399: 28.0.60; easier access to ORG-NEWS

bug#52399: 28.0.60; easier access to ORG-NEWS

[Mike Kupfer]

Finding ORG-NEWS seems harder than it should be.

1. The "Browse Org News" menu item (Org > Documentation > Browse Org
News) isn't adequate, because it takes you to orgmode.org.  The package
description (C-h P org RET) has the same problem.  If you're working
offline, orgmode.org is not going to be available.  Also, it shows the
news for the latest release, which might not be what you have installed.
(The news for older releases is available at the bottom of the page, but
it could be confusing if you don't notice that the news that is first
presented is for a different release.)

2. I don't see a reference to ORG-NEWS in the Org mode section of the
Info pages, much less an easy way to get to it.

3. The entry in NEWS for the Org mode update mentions ORG-NEWS, but it
doesn't say how to get to it.  (Yes, I know how to get to ORG-NEWS from
NEWS.  Do we expect random users to understand the layout of an
installed Emacs at that level of detail?)

regards,
Mike Kupfer

In GNU Emacs 28.0.60 (build 8, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, X toolkit, cairo version 1.16.0, Xaw scroll bars)
 of 2021-12-02 built on alto
Repository revision: 0136a243428efce0400aabfce9c2237ac0346e81
Repository branch: emacs-28-mdk
Windowing system distributor 'The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.12004000
System Description: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)

Configured using:
 'configure --with-native-compilation --prefix=/usr/new'

Configured features:
CAIRO FREETYPE GIF GLIB GMP GNUTLS GSETTINGS HARFBUZZ JPEG LIBSELINUX
LIBXML2 MODULES NATIVE_COMP NOTIFY INOTIFY PDUMPER PNG SECCOMP SOUND
THREADS TIFF TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS X11 XDBE XIM XPM LUCID ZLIB

Important settings:
  value of $LC_TIME: C
  value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix

Major mode: Outline

Minor modes in effect:
  shell-dirtrack-mode: t
  delete-selection-mode: t
  global-eldoc-mode: t
  show-paren-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  buffer-read-only: t
  auto-fill-function: do-auto-fill
  indent-tabs-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t
  view-mode: t

Load-path shadows:
None found.

Features:
(shadow emacsbug org-element avl-tree generator ol-eww eww xdg url-queue
ol-rmail ol-mhe ol-irc ol-info ol-gnus nnselect gnus-search ol-docview
doc-view image-mode exif ol-bibtex ol-bbdb ol-w3m ol-doi org-link-doi
org ob ob-tangle ob-ref ob-lob ob-table ob-exp org-macro org-footnote
org-src ob-comint org-pcomplete org-list org-faces org-entities
org-version ob-emacs-lisp ob-core ob-eval org-table oc-basic bibtex ol
org-keys oc org-compat org-macs org-loaddefs format-spec view jka-compr
lisp-mnt finder-inf package cal-china lunar solar cal-dst cal-bahai
cal-islam cal-hebrew holidays hol-loaddefs diary-lib diary-loaddefs
cal-move cal-menu calendar cal-loaddefs mh-identity mh-letter ballot cl
gnus-fun gnus-mh mh-comp sort gnus-async gnus-bcklg gnus-kill gnus-dup
gnus-ml disp-table timezone url-http url-gw url-cache url-auth
url-handlers nnrss mm-url gnutls nndoc nndraft nnmh network-stream nsm
gnus-agent gnus-srvr gnus-score score-mode nnvirtual gnus-msg nntp
gnus-cache skeleton sgml-mode facemenu wdired misearch multi-isearch
vc-hg diff-mode cl-print debug backtrace dired-aux dired-x ispell comp
comp-cstr warnings rx mh-alias crm shr-color color eieio-opt speedbar
ezimage dframe find-func shortdoc help-fns radix-tree qp flow-fill
cl-extra help-mode mm-archive mail-extr mh-mime mh-gnus mh-show
goto-addr thingatpt gnus-cite gnus-art mm-uu mml2015 mm-view mml-smime
smime dig gnus-sum shr kinsoku svg dom browse-url url url-proxy
url-privacy url-expand url-methods url-history url-cookie url-domsuf
url-util url-parse url-vars mailcap gnus-group gnus-undo gnus-start
gnus-dbus dbus xml gnus-cloud nnimap nnmail mail-source utf7 netrc nnoo
parse-time iso8601 gnus-spec gnus-int gnus-win gnus-range gnus nnheader
wid-edit pp mule-util mh-search mh-thread mh-inc hl-line mh-tool-bar
mh-seq mh-xface mh-utils mh-folder which-func imenu mh-scan mh-e
mh-compat mh-buffers mh-loaddefs mdk-mail smtpmail sendmail message rmc
puny dired dired-loaddefs rfc822 mml mml-sec epa derived epg rfc6068
epg-config gnus-util rmail rmail-loaddefs auth-source eieio eieio-core
cl-macs eieio-loaddefs password-cache json map text-property-search
time-date subr-x seq gv mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231
rfc2047 rfc2045 mm-util ietf-drums mail-prsvr mailabbrev mail-utils
gmm-utils mailheader server noutline outline easy-mmode cc-mode cc-fonts
cc-guess cc-menus cc-cmds cc-styles cc-align cc-engine cc-vars cc-defs
byte-opt bytecomp byte-compile cconv shell pcomplete comint ansi-color
ring xcscope advice delsel cl-seq vc vc-dispatcher timeclock cl-loaddefs
cl-lib mdk-hacks iso-transl tooltip eldoc paren electric uniquify
ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type elisp-mode mwheel term/x-win x-win
term/common-win x-dnd tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt fringe
tabulated-list replace newcomment text-mode lisp-mode prog-mode register
page tab-bar menu-bar rfn-eshadow isearch easymenu timer select
scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax font-core term/tty-colors
frame minibuffer cl-generic cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang
vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean japanese eucjp-ms cp51932
hebrew greek romanian slovak czech european ethiopic indian cyrillic
chinese composite emoji-zwj charscript charprop case-table epa-hook
jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev obarray cl-preloaded nadvice button
loaddefs faces cus-face macroexp files window text-properties overlay
sha1 md5 base64 format env code-pages mule custom widget
hashtable-print-readable backquote threads inotify dynamic-setting
system-font-setting font-render-setting cairo x-toolkit x multi-tty
make-network-process native-compile emacs)

Memory information:
((conses 16 522335 32097)
 (symbols 48 33114 4)
 (strings 32 126936 5000)
 (string-bytes 1 4084610)
 (vectors 16 67220)
 (vector-slots 8 1897578 43209)
 (floats 8 1017 353)
 (intervals 56 16783 3110)
 (buffers 992 54))

bug#52399: 28.0.60; easier access to ORG-NEWS

[Kyle Meyer]

Mike Kupfer writes:

> Finding ORG-NEWS seems harder than it should be.
>
> 1. The "Browse Org News" menu item (Org > Documentation > Browse Org
> News) isn't adequate, because it takes you to orgmode.org.  The package
> description (C-h P org RET) has the same problem.  If you're working
> offline, orgmode.org is not going to be available.  Also, it shows the
> news for the latest release, which might not be what you have installed.
> (The news for older releases is available at the bottom of the page, but
> it could be confusing if you don't notice that the news that is first
> presented is for a different release.)
>
> 2. I don't see a reference to ORG-NEWS in the Org mode section of the
> Info pages, much less an easy way to get to it.

These two look like something that would be dealt with on Org's side.
This report has been reassigned there, so perhaps someone on the Org
list will have thoughts or decide to work on a patch.

> 3. The entry in NEWS for the Org mode update mentions ORG-NEWS, but it
> doesn't say how to get to it.  (Yes, I know how to get to ORG-NEWS from
> NEWS.  Do we expect random users to understand the layout of an
> installed Emacs at that level of detail?)

And I guess this one is for Emacs's side at the time of the sync.

I was looking through the NEWS* files in the Emacs repo for guidance
from other packages, but I see mostly the same thing ("GNUS-NEWS",
"MH-E-NEWS", "ERC-NEWS", ...).  I guess there is one that's a little
different, though I'm not sure how helpful tacking on "./" is: "See the
file ./MH-E-NEWS for details".

Do you have any suggestions for what would be more helpful to put there?

bug#52399: 28.0.60; easier access to ORG-NEWS

[Kévin Le Gouguec]

Kyle Meyer <kyle@kyleam.com> writes:

>> 3. The entry in NEWS for the Org mode update mentions ORG-NEWS, but it
>> doesn't say how to get to it.  (Yes, I know how to get to ORG-NEWS from
>> NEWS.  Do we expect random users to understand the layout of an
>> installed Emacs at that level of detail?)
>
> And I guess this one is for Emacs's side at the time of the sync.
>
> I was looking through the NEWS* files in the Emacs repo for guidance
> from other packages, but I see mostly the same thing ("GNUS-NEWS",
> "MH-E-NEWS", "ERC-NEWS", ...).  I guess there is one that's a little
> different, though I'm not sure how helpful tacking on "./" is: "See the
> file ./MH-E-NEWS for details".
>
> Do you have any suggestions for what would be more helpful to put there?

28.1 introduces etc-authors-mode; perhaps, in a similar vein, we could
add etc-news-mode, and add have the mode initialization function
buttonize these cross-references?

(Older emacsen would get confused by the "mode: etc-news" clause in
newer NEWS files, though…)