RE: please review bug #13141

[Drew Adams]

> > That doesn't mean that the emacs session where you submit the report
> > must be an emacs -Q session. And some bug reports do not require a
> > recipe from emacs -Q, though that's always a good idea.
> 
> I don't know about others, but I can't possibly send email from an
> emacs -Q session without going through a lot of trouble.

Yes.  It can be easier to just copy the composed report text from Emacs to an
external mail client.  Simple.  Trivial.  (And not clearly stated to users,
AFAICT.)

Configuring Emacs to send mail is understandably non-trivial.  The good news is
that one _need not_ use Emacs to send mail, including a bug report, provided one
has an external mail client.  (Users deserve to hear that good news.)

> Which means recent input and messages are almost always irrelevant.

No, not necessarily.  You can copy them to a different Emacs session where you
report the bug, if you like.

They are irrelevant only if in fact they are irrelevant to the particular bug
report at hand.  You, the reporter, are the immediate judge of that.  If you
think that that info is in fact irrelevant, then don't bother to include it in
your report.

If you think it is relevant, you can always copy it to another Emacs session
where mail is configured, or copy it to an external mail client, if you have
one.

> It might make sense to only include this data provided
> (y-or-n-p "Did you encounter the bug just now in this emacs session?")

Emacs (and Emacs Dev) should not try to be so clever.  It should not get fixated
on its automatic capturing of session information.

Just let users use their own judgment and act accordingly.  But let's give them
the means to do so easily.

Emacs should not try to second-guess users.  In general, it should avoid
interrogating them unnecessarily.  Let them act as they like, with reasonable
tools that help them get the job done.

At bottom, the user is just sending an email to address@hidden - nothing
more.  Sheesh, not a big deal.  All `report-emacs-bug' is for is to help you do
that.  It is only a convenience command.

That Emacs pops up a buffer for you to compose the report text is the main
convenience.  That Emacs can address and later send the completed mail message,
using a mail client that is either integrated with Emacs or external to it, is
another convenience.  That Emacs can fill the report composition buffer with
some automatically captured info about the current session is yet another
convenience.

These are all (relatively minor) conveniences - nothing more.  The real, and
trivial, message can be lost in all of this:

 Report bugs to address@hidden

Our current user interrogation, before mail has been configured, is unfortunate.
IF configuration is to be done, then Emacs needs the answers, of course.  In
that case ONLY do we need to call in the Grand Inquisitor, so why start users
out with him?

Configuration is _not needed_ to send a bug report, if you have an external mail
client, which is true of most people nowadays.  That should be the default, the
starting point in our instructions to users.  Start with the simple method, and
make clear that the complex method is optional.

The first (and hence potentially the only) question the dialog should ask is
simply whether you want to use Emacs itself to send the mail.

But even for that there is no necessary reason to ask the user.  The
`report-emacs-bug' instructions should simply say:

 After composing your report here, copy it to a new mail message
 in your mail client, and send it to address@hidden

Instead, they dive immediately into saying that Emacs WILL send a mail, etc.

The instructions could continue by saying that IF you prefer instead that Emacs
send the mail for you, then hit `C-c C-c', which will lead you through the
necessary steps to send it.

IOW, there is no absolute need for Emacs to ever ask anything, in order for a
user to send a bug report.  Emacs should keep it simple, to start with.  The
complexity is optional, and it should be presented as such, AFTER telling users
they can just send an email to address@hidden

The bug reporting process has gotten out of hand, IMHO, because:

1. We like to provide convenience aids, and Emacs is good for composing text and
can easily retrieve info about the session.

2. Emacs Dev is proud of the fact that Emacs can itself be used as a mail
client, so it has warped the reporting procedure/dialog into one about sending
mail using Emacs.

It's all well and good to have Emacs _be able_ to help users compose their
report and send it.  But that possibility should not be taken as a necessity, or
end up as a restriction on the user.

Write, copy, paste, and send (from an external client) should at least be
MENTIONED, front and center, in the instructions/help shown by
`report-emacs-bug' as a primary way of reporting a bug.  Today, it is not.