bug#66554: [PATCH] Add the public API of Compat to the core

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>
> Cc: mail@daniel-mendler.de,  66554@debbugs.gnu.org,
>   monnier@iro.umontreal.ca,  stefankangas@gmail.com
> Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2024 20:47:38 +0000
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> >> From: Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>
> >> Cc: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>,  66554@debbugs.gnu.org,
> >>   monnier@iro.umontreal.ca,  stefankangas@gmail.com
> >> Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2024 19:51:27 +0000
> >> 
> >> Pinging this thread with an updated version of the patch:
> >
> > I find the documentation of this arrangement still insufficient.  The
> > way this stuff works (which required Daniel to write 150 lines of
> > explanation) is mostly kept out of the written docs, so we'll have to
> > rely on people's memory.  Can we document this machinery better?
> 
> I can go into more detail, integrating what Daniel explained, my
> question just is if this is something that really interests someone
> reading the Elisp manual?

My suggestion is to have the details in compat.el; the ELisp reference
should just mention the package as the recommended means for making
3rd-party and ELPA packages compatible with older Emacs versions.

> In this case I just meant "hack" in the sense of a "clever trick", since
> it was not immediately obvious to anyone until you brought it up.

I believe we call that a "kludge".