RE: please review bug #13141

[Drew Adams]

> > 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.
> 
> IIRC the default value of `send-mail-function' is 
> `sendmail-query-once', which queries for `send-mail-function' 
> and sends mail with the queried result (and also saves the 
> value of `send-mail-function' via Customize).  And in the 
> *Bug Help* buffer:
>   Type C-c m to copy text to your preferred mail program.

And all of that complexity, which admittedly can lead to convenience, is extra,
unnecessary.  It can be nice, but it is not necessary in order for a user to
report a bug.  That's the point, and it is a point that is not passed along
clearly to users, IMO.

Users do not _need_ to bother with `send-mail-function', `sendmail-query-once',
automatic saving of customized values, or any of the rest.  They can just send
an email to address@hidden, ignoring all of the Emacs paraphernalia
provided to assist you in doing that.

> > 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.
> 
> I don't think so, it can be like this:
>   Type C-c C-c to send the bug report (using send-mail-function).

Sorry, I don't get your point.

My point was that we need not query the user _at all_, not even once.  Why?
Because s?he can just send a mail outside Emacs - QED.

The questioning and related hoopla is only for the case where the user wants to
either (a) have Emacs pull up his external mail client for him or (b) have Emacs
actually mail the message.

We have made that more complicated case into the default, regular case.  And we
neglect to simply mention the simpler case at all: just send an email to
address@hidden  (We mention that possibility in the manual, but not in
the `report-emacs-bug' instructions.)

If a user does not want to simply send a message using an external mail client,
perhaps after composing the message in Emacs and copying it, then s?he can hit
C-c C-c to get the behavior you describe (the querying, config dialog if
appropriate, etc.).  Otherwise, no questions needed.

But today the instructions displayed when you invoke `report-emacs-bug' do not
even make it clear that you have the (simpler) option of just sending a message
to address@hidden  We immediately lead the user down the garden path of
our helpful inquisition.  That's not necessary.

It's great to provide the conveniences we do, to help users get their reports to
Emacs Dev.  But it's not _necessary_ for users to do things that way.

The convenience we provide is a nice-to-have, and it should be kept, of course.
But it should not be the first thing we tell users about, wrt reporting a bug.
The first thing to tell them is that all they need to do is send an email to
address@hidden

KISS.  See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_razor.