Shouldn't directory-abbrev-alist be in Emacs manual?

Shouldn't directory-abbrev-alist be in Emacs manual?

[Drew Adams]

It is a user option. It is described in the Elisp manual, but not in
the Emacs manual, where users might want to know about it.


In GNU Emacs 22.1.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600)
 of 2007-06-02 on RELEASE
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 5.1.2600
configured using `configure --with-gcc (3.4) --cflags -Ic:/gnuwin32/include'

Re: Shouldn't directory-abbrev-alist be in Emacs manual?

[Chong Yidong]

"Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> It is a user option. It is described in the Elisp manual, but not in
> the Emacs manual, where users might want to know about it.

After thinking about this a little, I feel that it's too much of a
niche option to warrant mentioning in the Emacs manual, which after
all doesn't aim to document every single user option.  Does anyone
feel strongly that it should be discussed in the manual?

RE: Shouldn't directory-abbrev-alist be in Emacs manual?

[Drew Adams]

> > It is a user option. It is described in the Elisp manual, but not in
> > the Emacs manual, where users might want to know about it.
> 
> After thinking about this a little, I feel that it's too much of a
> niche option to warrant mentioning in the Emacs manual, which after
> all doesn't aim to document every single user option.  Does anyone
> feel strongly that it should be discussed in the manual?

It's not about "document[ing] every single user option". That's a straw man.

The point is that this option *is* discussed in the manual already, but it
is in the wrong manual. It belongs in the Emacs manual, not in the Elisp
manual (or perhaps it belongs in both; I don't know). 

It is a user option, intended for user customizing, not only for Lisp
programming. Users who will use it need not know Emacs Lisp at all. They
should not need to read the Elisp manual to find out about the option.

Either it is useful for non-Lispers or it is not. If it is, then, if it is
documented, the proper manual for that is the Emacs manual.