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Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only direct
From: |
Eli Zaretskii |
Subject: |
Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only directory names |
Date: |
Sun, 25 Oct 2015 20:38:31 +0200 |
> From: Stephen Leake <address@hidden>
> Cc: Stefan Monnier <address@hidden>, address@hidden
> Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2015 16:37:43 -0500
>
> > No, he means without the trailing slash.
>
> Hmm. I now realize this is confused, and the doc string for `load-path'
> does not match the implementation.
>
> Here's the `load-path' doc string (from master):
>
> List of directories to search for files to load.
> Each element is a string (directory name) or nil (meaning
> ‘default-directory’).
> Initialized during startup as described in Info node ‘(elisp)Library
> Search’.
>
> That says "directory name".
> (info "(elisp) Directory Names") says:
>
> On GNU and Unix systems, this is simple: a directory name ends in a
> slash, whereas the directory’s name as a file lacks that slash.
>
> This info node does not give a canonical phrase for "the directory's name as
> a file". This is the string returned by `directory-file-name'; I guess
> "directory file name" works.
It's easy to get these two confused, especially since one is shorter.
Let's say "directory file name" in the doc string of 'load-path',
since we've been doing that since time immemoriam.
> In emacs -Q, `load-path' has no terminating slashes.
Yes, because startup.el uses directory-files to get the standard
subdirectories of lisp/, and the lisp/ directory itself starts without
the trailing slash (by magic of the processed epaths.in).
> I have the impression that some other documentation uses "directory"
> instead of "directory name", but I can't find a good example at the moment.
I don't think this distinction between "directory" the object and its
name (see Lewis Carrol's immortal text on that) is relevant to the
issue at hand. Here we are talking about 2 possible forms of the
directory's name.
> So the doc string for `load-path' should be changed to:
>
> List of directories to search for files to load.
> Each element is a string (directory file name) or nil (meaning
> ‘default-directory’).
Yes, and also a reference to 'directory-file-name' would be useful
here.
> Initialized during startup as described in Info node ‘(elisp)Library
> Search’.
>
> (just added 'file') possibly refilled.
>
> And the info node should define "directory file name".
Yup. Patches welcome, thanks in advance.
> However, there is one more quirk; `default-directory' does end in a
> slash, so having nil mean that in `load-path' is inconsistent. Should
> that then be:
>
> ... or nil (meaning (directory-file-name default-directory)).
>
> ?
I don't think this subtlety is relevant. The issue at hand is the
_form_, not the _semantics_. As far as the form is concerned, nil
doesn't end in a slash, and you cannot use it in 'concat' for
generating a file name with leading directories anyway; you must use
'expand-file-name', which already does TRT.
> I don't think I've ever had nil in `load-path'; that seems like a bug,
> comparable to having "." in PATH.
No, it's a feature. I did see that at some point, don't remember
where and why.
> And most of the path iterating code I've written would fail on nil
> (sigh).
If you use 'expand-file-name', it will "just work".
Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only directory names, Stephen Leake, 2015/10/24
- Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only directory names,
Eli Zaretskii <=
- Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only directory names, Stephen Leake, 2015/10/26
- Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only directory names, Dmitry Gutov, 2015/10/26
- Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only directory names, Eli Zaretskii, 2015/10/26
- Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only directory names, Stefan Monnier, 2015/10/26
- Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only directory names, Eli Zaretskii, 2015/10/26
- Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only directory names, Dmitry Gutov, 2015/10/26
- Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only directory names, Eli Zaretskii, 2015/10/26
- Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only directory names, Dmitry Gutov, 2015/10/26
Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only directory names, Stefan Monnier, 2015/10/27
Re: [Emacs-diffs] master 4d3a595: `load-path' should contain only directory names, Eli Zaretskii, 2015/10/27