> branch: externals/brief
> commit 362d6296717af611be20cb56592d495c01ea7a00
> Author: Luke Lee <luke@gauss>
> Commit: Luke Lee <luke@gauss>

Please try and use a valid email as commit identifier.

> @@ -457,8 +461,9 @@
>  ;; backward compatibility issues.
>  ;;(require 'replace)
> 
> -(defconst brief-version "5.87"
> -  "The version of this Brief emulator.")
> +;;;###autoload
> +(defconst brief-version "5.88.22"
> +  "Current version of this Brief editor mode/emulator.")

Why autoload?

> -           (not (fboundp 'save-mark-and-excursion)))
> +           (not (fboundp #'save-mark-and-excursion)))

The arg to `fboundp` is a symbol not a function (e.g. it can't be
a (lambda ...) for example), so I think #' is ill-advised.
It works fine, in practice, so it's somewhat of a philosophical issue.

> +  (when (and (version<= "27.0" emacs-version)

I understand efficiency is not a major issue here, but

    (<= 27 emacs-major-version)

works just as well :-)

> -  (scroll-bar-mode -1)             ;; small border without scroll bar
> +  (when (and brief-turn-off-scroll-bar-mode
> +             (fboundp #'scroll-bar-mode))

In which circumstance could `scroll-bar-mode` not be defined?

> +    (scroll-bar-mode -1)             ;; small border without scroll bar
> +    (setq-default scroll-bar-mode -1))

According to its doc, the `scroll-bar-mode` variable can take values
`nil`, `left`, and `right`.  What do you intend to get by setting it to -1?


        Stefan