Patch for (elisp's) buffers.texi.

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hi, Emacs!

I submitted this patch on Monday 15th August (Subject: Re: (elisp's)
buffer.texi: Vagueness in chapter "The Buffer List"), but it seems to
have been overlooked, possibly because it was a response to my own rant.
So, here it is again!

This patch is about the description of the buffer list.  The reasons I
want this patch are that the current buffers.texi (V 1.43) is a bit vague
about the buffer list.  In particular,

1-/ It doesn't say that newly created buffers get put on the END of the
  buffer list.

2-/ It is a bit vague on which functions "select" a buffer to move it to the
  front of the list.

3-/ It doesn't state explicitly that the buffer list can not be directly
  manipulated in Lisp.  This is so unusual in Emacs (are there any other
  structures visible in Lisp that likewise can't be manipulated?) that it
  seems worthwhile pointing out, to save hackers the time which would be
  wasted looking for manipulation functions.

So, here's the patch again.  Please consider installing it.


2005-08-15  Alan Mackenzie  <address@hidden>

        * buffers.texi (The Buffer List): Clarify the manipulation of the
        buffer list.


*** buffers.texi        Sun Aug 14 09:23:39 2005
--- buffers-1.43.new.texi       Mon Aug 15 09:27:29 2005
***************
*** 757,772 ****
  @section The Buffer List
  @cindex buffer list

!   The @dfn{buffer list} is a list of all live buffers.  Creating a
! buffer adds it to this list, and killing a buffer removes it.  The
! order of the buffers in the list is based primarily on how recently
! each buffer has been displayed in the selected window.  Buffers move
! to the front of the list when they are selected (selecting a window
! that already displays the buffer counts as selecting the buffer), and
! to the end when they are buried (see @code{bury-buffer}, below).
! Several functions, notably @code{other-buffer}, use this ordering.  A
! buffer list displayed for the user also follows this order.

    In addition to the fundamental Emacs buffer list, each frame has its
  own version of the buffer list, in which the buffers that have been
  selected in that frame come first, starting with the buffers most
--- 757,775 ----
  @section The Buffer List
  @cindex buffer list

!   The @dfn{buffer list} is a list of all live buffers.  The order of
! the buffers in the list is based primarily on how recently each buffer
! has been displayed in a window.  Several functions, notably
! @code{other-buffer}, use this ordering.  A buffer list displayed for
! the user also follows this order.

+   Creating a buffer adds it to the end of the buffer list, and killing
+ a buffer removes it.  Buffers move to the front of the list when they
+ are selected for display in a window (@pxref{Displaying Buffers}), and
+ to the end when they are buried (see @code{bury-buffer}, below).
+ There are no functions available to the Lisp programmer which directly
+ manipulate the buffer list.
+
    In addition to the fundamental Emacs buffer list, each frame has its
  own version of the buffer list, in which the buffers that have been
  selected in that frame come first, starting with the buffers most


-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany)