Re: Loading when viewing docstring of autoloaded function

[Štěpán Němec]

On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 17:44:10 +0800
Chong Yidong wrote:

> It's a long-standing problem that documentation viewed with C-h * might
> not make much sense if it refers to stuff defined in a library that has
> not yet been loaded.
>
> The most annoying aspect is that autoloaded functions often have
> docstrings containing key substitution constructs, which are expanded
> into `M-x FOO' because the relevant keymaps are not yet defined.  I'd
> like to suggest a simple workaround: if an autoloaded function contains
> key substitution constructs, just outright load the library where it was
> defined.  There's not much point in being conservative about loading
> libraries, since it is so fast nowadays.  See attached patch.
>
> Alternatively, we could introduce a full-blown solution by adding a new
> docstring substitution construct to invoke library loading, but I'm not
> sure we need that.
>
> Opinions?

Other than the fact that this is not a solution but workaround, I don't
like the idea. Loading may be fast, but the loaded libraries use memory
and change the environment, which seems too much to pay for a docstring
or seeing a proper key binding (which you might never want to actually
use) to me.

So if you do this, please at least do provide an option to turn it off.

-- 
Štěpán