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From: Drew Adams via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" <bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
Cc: "michael_heerdegen@web.de" <michael_heerdegen@web.de>,
	"73709@debbugs.gnu.org" <73709@debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: bug#73709: 29.4; Doc of `file-newer-than-file-p'
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2024 17:01:04 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <DS7PR10MB523251D9143D983BBEB023C5F37B2@DS7PR10MB5232.namprd10.prod.outlook.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <86h69gt3xt.fsf@gnu.org>

> > 1. Doc string suggestion, first line:
> >
> > "Return t if content of FILE1 is newer than content of FILE2."
> >
> > Short and clear.
> 
> It's short and clear, but it's inaccurate.  E.g., how to define
> "content newer" when both files have the same content (like if one of
> them is a copy of the other)?

That and other details should be available from
`file-attribute-modification-time', if important at
all (which is why it can be good to point to the doc
of that attribute).

But it's _not_ available even in that doc, is it?

 (elisp) `File Attributes':
 5. The time of last modification as a list of four integers
    (as above) ('file-attribute-modification-time').  This
    is the last time when the file's contents were modified.
                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 Doc string of `file-attributes':
 5. Last modification time, likewise.  This is the
    time of the last change to the file's contents.
                                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If we don't get into such detail in the doc for
the attribute then we certainly don't need to get
into it in the doc for `file-newer-than-file-p'.

But what's _most_ important here is to say WHAT
thing (aspect/attribute/dimension) it is whose
relative recentness is measured/compared.  Just
"newer" or "more recent" doesn't cut the mustard.

The thing that's measured/compared, as the attribute
doc itself says, is the "file's contents".  Don't
believe me; believe that doc.

As said before, it's a matter of _degree_ of clarity.
The current doc for the predicate isn't clear enough.
It misses what's most important - content changes.

  "IOW, you needn't go to the extreme of saying that
   we would need to explain everything in the doc of
   `file-newer-than-file-p'.  All that's needed for
   that doc is something a bit clearer than just saying
   that it's about a file's "newness".

You repeat that it's ALL OR NOTHING, claiming both (1)
the current doc is fine - clear enough and (2) anything
other than 100% complete information/clarity/details is
no better.  A false choice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma





  reply	other threads:[~2024-10-13 17:01 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 39+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2024-10-08 17:56 bug#73709: 29.4; Doc of `file-newer-than-file-p' Drew Adams via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-08 18:20 ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-08 18:40   ` Drew Adams via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-09  0:45     ` Michael Heerdegen via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-09 13:31       ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-09 16:32         ` Drew Adams via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-09 23:21         ` Michael Heerdegen via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-10  8:09           ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-10 11:08             ` Michael Albinus via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-11  0:23             ` Michael Heerdegen via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-11  5:56               ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-12  0:31                 ` Michael Heerdegen via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-12  8:40                   ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-12 22:48                     ` Michael Heerdegen via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-13  5:13                       ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-13 14:51                         ` Drew Adams via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-13 15:31                           ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-13 17:01                             ` Drew Adams via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors [this message]
2024-10-13 18:30                               ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-13 22:23                                 ` Drew Adams via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-14  2:28                                   ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-15  1:10                             ` Michael Heerdegen via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-15 13:46                               ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-15 14:20                                 ` Drew Adams via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-15 14:51                                   ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-15 15:01                                     ` Ship Mints
2024-10-15 16:21                                       ` Drew Adams via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-15 16:23                                       ` Michael Albinus via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-15 16:24                                         ` Ship Mints
2024-10-16  4:11                                 ` Michael Heerdegen via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-16  5:54                                   ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-18  1:32                                     ` Michael Heerdegen via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-09 23:42         ` Stefan Kangas
2024-10-10  1:47           ` Drew Adams via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-10  8:26           ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-11  0:41             ` Michael Heerdegen via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-11  6:03               ` Eli Zaretskii
2024-10-12  0:38                 ` Michael Heerdegen via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors
2024-10-12  1:13                   ` Drew Adams via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors

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