bug#44483: 27.1.50; Window parameter `min-margins' doesn't split window in half

[martin rudalics]

> AFAIR, the first time I heard about the `min-margins' parameter was when I
> looked at the release notes of Emacs 25 after it came out. I don't remember 
why
> I didn't try it out immediately, but after that, I probably forgot about it,
> until a bug report I got a week ago.
>
> Paul Rankin did add `min-margins' to his `olivetti' package, but he didn't
> remove the pre-25 workaround that uses the `split-window' window parameter, so
> the problem probably never showed up.

You're right.  It was Paul, who said that he didn't need 'min-margins'
and never reported whether they worked at all.  Sorry for the confusion
but I lost my recordings of past conversations.

>> In Emacs 28 I intend to remove sanity checks entirely and always
>> auto-shrink margins when they don't fit into a window any more.  Windows
>> will also have a configurable minimum body width so the behavior seen
>> now where the entire buffer text disappears can be easily avoided.
>
> OK, so yet another way of doing things. :-) Sounds like it would make my life 
a
> little easier, though.

It's pretty hard to accommodate all expectations here.  Consider a user
who wants line numbers to remain visible even if everything else has
disappeared after a window has shrunk: With line numbers displayed in
margins, margins should prevail.  With display-line-numbers, buffer text
should prevail.  A minimum body width will help users to make that
decision.  Yet users still have to interfere "manually" in order to
communicate their intentions to Emacs.

> Feel free to let me know when you implement it. I don't normally follow
> development that closely, but in this case I'd be interested to test the new 
way
> of doing things before the official release.

I'll send you a patch as soon as I consider it stable enough.

martin