Re: word-wrap in echo area

[Chong Yidong]

David Reitter <address@hidden> writes:

>>>> Incidentally: how would one turn on word-wrap for the echo area?
>>>> Word wrapping for `message' would be very useful.  (It could even
>>>> be the default.)
>
> It's a simple change.  Is this trouble-prone, or can it be installed
> now?
>
>
> Index: xdisp.c
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /sources/emacs/emacs/src/xdisp.c,v
> retrieving revision 1.1245
> diff -c -r1.1245 xdisp.c
> *** xdisp.c   8 Aug 2008 15:43:45 -0000       1.1245
> --- xdisp.c   11 Aug 2008 13:33:36 -0000
> ***************
> *** 8320,8325 ****
> --- 8320,8326 ----
>       sprintf (name, " *Echo Area %d*", i);
>       echo_buffer[i] = Fget_buffer_create (build_string (name));
>       XBUFFER (echo_buffer[i])->truncate_lines = Qnil;
> +     XBUFFER (echo_buffer[i])->word_wrap = Qt;

We shouldn't turn on word wrap unconditionally in the echo area, because
there are instances in which word wrap is undesirable.  For example,
when the buffer contains words that are (on average) half the window
width, word wrap actually makes text harder to read than ordinary line
wrapping.  Maybe this situation never occurs in the echo area; maybe
not; in any case, let's leave this till after the release.