Re: master 5b3c4004a9 2/2: Remove calls to intern with a static string from code that runs on X

[Po Lu]

Gregory Heytings <gregory@heytings.org> writes:

> That question means "Can you please try to reproduce the issue with
> emacs -Q?".  If not, it's probably something that is specific to your
> configuration.

But it used to work.  So this has broken how I work with Emacs, and I
want it changed.

And no, it doesn't happen in emacs -Q.

> There is nothing much different in that message from any other "echo"
> in other Makefiles, and I don't see why a leading indentation could
> change the way a pattern such as "[Makefile:412: advice-on-failure]"
> is detected and fontified.  It seems like a bug somewhere.  If you
> replace dashes with, say, '*', or '.', or numbers like "1." and "2.",
> is your problem solved?

The problem seems to be indentation in the Makefile.

> That's your opinion.  Nobody else said something similar, and I
> disagree. What such an advice should display is a bullet list of
> possible actions, that the use can copy-paste and immediately try.

Nobody else having commented simply means most other people do not think
much about this problem.  I do, and for the simple reason that I could
not easily understand the message printed.

What exactly is the problem with making the message easier to understand
for others, even though you yourself think it is fine?

> That's perhaps correct in a docstring or a manual, but not in a
> terminal, in which capitals and e.g. or colors are commonly used to
> put emphasis on something.

But since no colors are used here, that is besides the point.  Printing
a message like this upon something as simple as a Makefile failing:

  !BEWARE! ...mundane advice..
  !BEWARE! ...mundane advice..
  !BEWARE! ...mundane advice..

amounts to what is considered by normal people as yelling in their
faces, which is not welcome in software, or in real life.