Luc Teirlinck writes:
> The old docstrings of define-obsolete-{function,variable}-alias
> contained statements that if no docstring was provided, that is,
> `(define-obsolete-{function,variable}-alias 'old 'new)', then OLD
> would get the docstring of NEW, _unless_ it already had one. This has
> been replaced with references to the `defalias' and `defvaralias '
> docs, which have no such "unless" statements. The "unless" appears to
> be definitely false in the `function' case. But it is true in the
> variable case. That is because it is false for defalias, but true for
> defvaralias.
That was my mistake. I looked at the behaviour of defvaralias and assumed
defalias behaved the same way.
> There are two solutions for the variable case. Document the fact in
> the docstring and Elisp documentation of defvaralias, or make
> defvaralias behave exactly like defalias and get rid of the "unless"
> behavior. I prefer the latter. The patch below would implement
> it. I can install if desired.
>
> To be more concrete:
>
> After:
>
> (defvar var1 "DOC1")
> (defvar var2 "DOC2")
> (defvaralias 'var1 'var2)
I think if an alias is made only then only one of the variables needs to be
declared.
> C-h v var1 RET
>
> now shows "DOC1", whereas after the patch below it shows "DOC2", which
> is behavior consistent with defalias.
As Stefan has pointed out defvaralias has a symmetry in its arguments (unlike
define-obsolete-variable-alias neither) but clearly it would make sense to be
consistent with defalias.
Nick
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