Re: PATCH: bookmark.el LIFO preservation

[Karl Fogel]

Thien-Thi Nguyen <address@hidden> writes:
> according to comments in bookmark.el, if `bookmark-sort-flag' is
> non-nil, the entries in the menu list are to be displayed in LIFO order.
>
> unfortunately, while `bookmark-maybe-sort-alist' currently does manage a
> properly non-destructive sort, it then goes on to assign the result to
> `bookmark-alist' anyway, thus losing the original order.  entries have
> no timestamp, either, so the order cannot even be recovered.
>
> to see this behavior:
>
>   (setq bookmark-sort-flag t)         ; default t anyway
>   (bookmark-bmenu-list)               ; note lexical ordering
>   (setq bookmark-sort-flag nil)
>   (bookmark-bmenu-list)               ; note lexical ordering
>   (describe-variable 'bookmark-alist)
>
> the last form is not strictly necessary; i include it to demonstrate the
> lossage at the data-structure level.  below is a small patch that makes
> the display option actually only affect display.  here is a ChangeLog
> entry:
>
>       * bookmark.el (bookmark-maybe-sort-alist): Don't modify
>       bookmark-alist.  Instead, if not sorting, simply return it.
>       (bookmark-bmenu-list): Call bookmark-maybe-sort-alist
>       for its return value, not for its side effect.
>
> do you mind if i install it?

Thank you for the clear explanation and the fix!  It'd be great if you
would install it, yes.

-Karl