bug#61014: 29.0.60; flymake-mode stderr warning is confusing when edit the init.el or eary-init.el

[Eli Zaretskii]

Ping!

> Cc: aqua0210@foxmail.com, 61014@debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2023 13:21:14 +0200
> From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
> 
> > From: João Távora <joaotavora@gmail.com>
> > Cc: Eason Huang <aqua0210@foxmail.com>,  61014@debbugs.gnu.org
> > Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2023 11:16:39 +0000
> > 
> > First of all, let's make it clear that this warning happens in a hidden
> > Flymake buffer, an implementation detail which stores the stderr output
> > of the subprocess(es) invoked.  It does not appear in the interactive
> > seeion's *Warnings* buffer.  Unless I've missed something, the user is
> > never confronted with it or hindered by it in any way.  It seems to be
> > largely benign.
> > 
> > The warning only become visible when switching to a specific hidden
> > buffer, like Eason did, and that operation is more accurately described
> > as an introspection feature intended for developers, not for users.
> > 
> > So, to summarize, the warning is coming from the subprocess
> > non-interactive Emacs spawned by the interactive Emacs where
> > flymake-mode is turned on.  In the interactive Emacs session, nothing
> > special is going on.
> > 
> > The reason elisp-flymake-byte-compile-load-path has a default value of
> > "./" is to help with the primary use case for the
> > elisp-flymake-byte-compile Flymake backend: developing libraries that
> > `require` other .el libraries.  Such .el files often live in the same
> > directory of the file/buffer you are editing with flymake-mode turned
> > on.  So when you're editing x/y/z/foo.el and you type
> > 
> >   (require 'foo-utils)
> > 
> > elisp-flymake-byte-compile will understand that to syntax-check foo.el
> > with the byte-compiler it needs to load "x/u/z/foo-utils.el".
> > 
> > In Eason's case, the user happens to be editing a .el file in a special
> > Emacs directory where such a use case is unlikely (though not
> > impossible).  So every few changes the user does to the buffer,
> > flymake-mdoe will invoke a Emacs subprocess and give it this particular
> > load-path initialization, that, in the specific acse of ~/.emacs.d, is
> > slightly non-orthodox.  And thus the subprocess emacs complains with
> > this warning which is recorded in the special hidden buffer.
> > 
> > If we're really worries about this, we could special-case this directory
> > elisp-mode.el.  But I also don't see what the harm could be.  So my
> > advice is to only do this when someone describes real harm.
> 
> How about disabling this warning in non-interactive sessions?  That
> should be easy, and I don't see why we would want to emit such a
> warning in non-interactive sessions anyway.
> 
> Stefan, am I missing something?
> 
> 
> 
>