bug#43572: Feature request: make it possible to choose whether the first lines of the minibuffer should be displayed instead of the last ones

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2020 21:51:43 +0000
> From: Gregory Heytings <ghe@sdf.org>
> cc: 43572@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> >> I can't believe this, in particular given that the default value of 
> >> enable-recursive-minibuffers is nil.
> >
> > You again are thinking only about uses of mini-window for editing in the 
> > minibuffer.  But that is not the only use of the mini-window.
> 
> I'm not sure I understand what you mean, but it seems to me that these 
> other uses of the mini-window are not at all affected by the proposed 
> patch, given that `start-display-at-beginning-of-minibuffer' is reset 
> immediately when read_minibuf() / read-from-minibuffer has ended.

I remind you the fact that read_minibuf enters recursive-edit, during
which any of the other callers of resize_mini_window can be called.

> > And even in its use for the minibuffer, many users enable recursive 
> > minibuffers.  I would not be surprised if some specialized modes and 
> > packages enabled it for their operations.
> 
> If this case is important, the attached corrected patch also disables 
> setting `start-display-at-beginning-of-minibuffer' in recursive 
> minibuffers, that is, it limits the effect of that variable to 
> non-recursive minibuffers.

That's a limitation I'd prefer not to impose.  It also doesn't affect
the other callers of resize_mini_window.

> I'll wait until you and Stefan agree on the way to solve that problem in a 
> better way to start working on this.  In his last mail he is apparently 
> not sure anymore that using text properties to do this, as he suggested 
> yesterday, is the best solution.

Yes, I'm still unsure why Stefan said that, and am waiting for his
elaborations.