bug#64656: 29.0.91; Doc of minibuffer histories and completing-read - automatic addition of completions to DEFAULT list

[Drew Adams]

> > Pull this misfeature out of Emacs; it
> > never should have been added (and IIRC
> > that was done without any discussion?).
> 
> This feature was removed by bug#5214 and bug#5364,
> then later added back by the request in bug#12490
> where you participated and raised no objections.

Seriously?

The only "participation" I had in bug #12490
was to say that "We should never bind `C-s'
in the minibuffer to anything.  We shouldn't
remove the ability to use Isearch there (using
the global `C-s' binding)."

I said nothing there about any question of
jamming the completion domain (initial
candidates) into the `M-n' queue.  I had no idea
that was going on.

That wasn't the subject of bug #12490, at all!

And looking now, I really don't see that it has
anything to do with that thread - or with bugs
#5214 and #5364.  So I don't see what you're on
about, here.

That someone might have abused bug report #12490
to do what you say is news to me (and it's not
kosher IMO).  I no doubt did not follow that
particular bug thread with a fine-tooth comb.
If that was done then it snuck by me, I guess.

But I certainly have voiced my opposition to
stuffing the `M-n' queue with the completion
domain.  Multiple times, and likely in multiple
threads.

I wasn't aware that this purposeful regression
was reverted in bug threads #5214 and #5364.
I didn't participate in either of those threads,
and was no doubt unaware that they had anything
to do with this problem.

And I don't even see that what you say happened.

In bug #12490 I see you say this, at the outset,
in reply to OP's complaint that he could no
longer _search in the minibuffer_:

 > I want to report, that most used function stop working in Emacs 24
 > (tested 2 versions 24.1.1 and latest 24.2.1). I use Search in
 > Mini buffer a lot (don't know if people use it or not). If you call
 > search C-s when inside minibuffer like C-h f C-s you can search the
 > content of Minibuffer like search for functions or for buffer name to
 > switch like C-x b C-s (better then ido mode). And in Emacs 24 M-x C-s
 > stop working so I you can't search for interactive function to execute
 > anymore. It was working in 23.3 provided by Ubuntu (package
 > 23.3+1-1ubuntu4).

 Sorry, this feature has been removed by http://debbugs.gnu.org/5214
 and http://debbugs.gnu.org/5364

 But it's easy to restore it with a simple patch that prepends the
 current default value (a command at point) to the sorted list of
 all available command names:

And even that doesn't seem to have much, if
anything, to do with adding all of the initial
completions to the `M-n' queue.

So I really don't follow you, here.

To be very clear, I'm opposed to the misfeature
of automatically jamming the initial completions
onto the `M-n' queue.  We have arg DEFAULTS for
that.  Callers of `completing-read' etc. can
provide exactly the list of DEFAULTS they want
to prepend to the `M-n' queue.

Don't remove programmer (and user) control by
smothering `M-n' with the completion candidates.
Please pull this misfeature out.