Re: [nongnu] elpa/org-contrib eaef050f28: lisp/ox-bibtex.el (org-bibtex-goto-citation): Add missing require

[Stefan Monnier]

Ihor Radchenko [2024-01-30 22:11:14] wrote:
> Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:
>>> I mean an opposite: if `declare-function' is called globally, but the
>>> actual function is only called by a single function in the file, emit
>>> warning.
>> I see.  Not sure it would be very useful: the issue is not "it's only
>> used here" but "it's only *available* here" (because of the
>> `require`).
> Does it mean that you would not recommend moving declare-function inside
> function if that function does not have require?

The `declare-function` tells the compiler "trust me, this function will
exist by the time we reach this point in the code".

Often as a programmer, what makes me confident to say such a thing is
that I just did a `require`, but not always.

Other times it's because I'm within a function which is placed on a hook
called by that other package, so even though I'm not explicitly loading
that package, I know that *if* the function is run, then presumably the
package is loaded.

Other times it's because I'm within a conditional branch that
corresponds to a particular version of Emacs (or some dependency) which
tells me that that function should be defined.

Yet other times, it's because I know the whole file will not be
used/usable without such and such other package, yet I can't `require`
that other package (e.g. because I don't want it as a hard dependency,
or to avoid a circular dependency, ...).

The pace where to put it depends on the specifics of the case.


        Stefan