checkdoc (was: mh-e 6.2 imminent)

[Stefan Monnier]

> I've never heard of this `convention,' and indeed, it sounds kind of
> dumb -- a `-flag' suffix doesn't really add any useful information
> (if you know the _meaning_ of a variable, then you already know whether
> it's boolean or not, and if you don't know the meaning, well, then it
> hardly helps you to know that it's boolean!).

It's sadly even mentioned in the elisp doc :-(

        work/emacs-0% grep -C flag lispref/tips.texi 
        @item
        If a user option variable records a true-or-false condition, give it a
        name that ends in @samp{-flag}.
        [...]

Luckily it's rarely folowed.

> Why on earth does checkdoc try to enforce this?  Can we take that out?

I'd be happy to.

> [I have my own agendas of course -- I'd like to make checkdoc complain
> if people use a `-p' suffix for variables, or a `-face' suffix for
> faces...]

Agreed for the `-p'.  For `-face', I'm still not sure either way.


        Stefan