Re: [External] : Supplying DOC string in a `defun' using `defvar'

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

> As I'm sure you know, by "this should be fixed"
> I meant please fix :documentation, so it works
> with both "dialects".

Patch welcome.

> The "fix" of introducing broken stuff, and saying "It'll all be fixed
> when the dynamic dialect finally goes away" doesn't cut the mustard.
> That's just "Demain on rase gratis !".

The fact is: the two dialects *are* different and that's the price that
had to be paid in order to introduce lexical scoping without breaking
all the existing code.

The fact that `:documentation` only works in the new dialect is the
least common hurdle among several others (I've already seen at least 20
cases here on gnu.emacs.help (plus at least the same amount in other
places) of ELisp snippets working only in the new dialect and users
stumbling because of that, this is the first that involves the obscure
`:documentation` feature).

So, while it is technically possible to make :documentation work in the
old dialect, it won't fix the core problem nor its most common
manifestations.  That core problem can only be fixed by helping people
move to the new dialect as quickly as possible so we can go back to
living in a single dialect.

This discussion has already helped one user change its code to the new
dialect, so maybe the fact that `:documentation` doesn't work in the old
dialect should be seen as a feature to help people move to the
new dialect.


        Stefan