RE: new apropos feature in Emacs-22

[Drew Adams]

    Please be sure to read the discussions about the various aspects of
    this feature.  It starts here:
      http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2002-05/msg00397.html
    You will see that I already suggested back then to have a separate
    command, in this message:
      http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2002-05/msg00400.html
    The ensuing discussion mentioned some drawbacks of that suggestion.

Thanks for the links. I'll keep quiet after this - suffice it to say that I
don't agree with this new feature, and the "drawbacks" mentioned to using a
separate command were skimpy. 80% of that thread was about how to implement
a keyword-search feature within apropos, not whether or not that was a good
idea. This was the only "drawback" that I saw mentioned in the whole thread
(please correct me, if I missed something):

 - All apropos commands should `accept the same type of "search patterns".'

And this question was raised, but not pursued (that I saw): `What would
apropos-keywords look for? `commands', `variables' `documentation', or "all
of the above" ?'

That one "drawback" wasn't discussed at all, that I saw. I don't see _why_
all apropos commands _should_ accept the same type of "search patterns" -
what is the argument for this? I didn't see any.

Are we perhaps worried about people _expecting_ that all commands that have
the word "apropos" in their names behave the same way wrt input (unlikely,
IMO)? Is that the unstated worry? If so:

1) I think that's being a bit skittish.

2) We could, instead, introduce a command (or a whole series of different
commands, to respond to the question raised but not answered) that uses
keywords and does _not_ have the word "apropos" in its name. If that (the
name) is the only real concern, then let us choose a different name for the
keyword-search command(s) (hey, how about `keyword-search'?)

How did the (useful!) feature of keyword search get injected and locked into
the existing apropos commands? (Virus? ;-))

As I said, we're asking for trouble by trying to mix regexp syntax and
keyword syntax. The former is confusing enough - imagine how it will be when
people fall into it by accident! My bet is that neither the regexp syntax
nor the keyword syntax will be clear cut or work well.

Now, I'll shut up, after one last request:

Can we please have available some function(s) that will give the original,
regexp-syntax-only behavior, so that we may individually get back to
something reasonable? That is, can we have functions (not necessarily aimed
at novices) that we can use to build commands that do what the apropos
family did before? It could be `apropos-internal' (plus equivalents for doc
etc.) - or something else, if `apropos-internal' has already been infected
too ;-).