Re: master d423017cae1: * lisp/vc/vc-dir.el (vc-dir-headers): Try a hints separator line.

On 21/08/2026 16:39, Sean Whitton wrote:
> Dmitry Gutov [18/Aug  4:56pm +03] wrote:
>> On 18/08/2026 12:53, Sean Whitton wrote:
>>> Dmitry Gutov [16/Aug  2:38am +03] wrote:
>>>> But how about this one? strike-through goes right through the middle.
>>>> Not sure why Lars chose underline originally - this seems to work fine
>>>> on all the terminal emulators I've tested, and where it doesn't (tty),
>>>> neither does underline.
>>>
>>> This looks great in my terminal but I feel the graphical display is a
>>> bit too cramped -- could we tweak it further?
>> I think the appropriate amount of spacing depends on the user's habit,
>> and the GUI often has smaller margins.
>>
>> So this element looks cramped on GUI after spending time in the terminal
>> and the terminal looks too spacey still after using the GUI version.
>>
>> I think that's ultimately fine because on the GUI at least the user can
>> choose between the shapes by customizing the face 'separator-line'.
> 
> SGTM.  Please install.

Thanks, I've pushed 22bf7a9821e.

>> Personally, I would just choose a lighter color for the line, but the
>> spacing feels fine. Just like we don't have a large margin at the bottom
>> of menu-bar or the top of the mode-line.
>>
>> It would be nice to review the different uses of the separator-line for
>> consistency, though.

Speaking of reviewing, we now have 3 uses without extra surrounding 
newlines, and 3 uses with them. This removes them consistently, I think:

diff --git a/lisp/emacs-lisp/package.el b/lisp/emacs-lisp/package.el
index 16e9ba04f3c..92247b35ec2 100644
--- a/lisp/emacs-lisp/package.el
+++ b/lisp/emacs-lisp/package.el
@@ -3041,7 +3041,7 @@ describe-package-1

        ;; Insert news if available.
        (when news
-        (insert "\n" (make-separator-line) "\n"
+        (insert (make-separator-line)
                  (propertize "* News" 'face 'package-help-section-name)
                  "\n\n")
          (insert-file-contents news))
diff --git a/lisp/help-fns.el b/lisp/help-fns.el
index af5a64f9e9c..3fdbb11ce07 100644
--- a/lisp/help-fns.el
+++ b/lisp/help-fns.el
@@ -2009,7 +2009,7 @@ describe-symbol
                (insert doc)
                (delete-region (point)
                               (progn (skip-chars-backward " \t\n") 
(point)))
-              (insert "\n\n" (make-separator-line) "\n")
+              (insert "\n" (make-separator-line))
                (when name
                  (insert (symbol-name symbol)
                          " is also a " name "." "\n\n"))))
diff --git a/lisp/help.el b/lisp/help.el
index be6e56ab646..c6667795094 100644
--- a/lisp/help.el
+++ b/lisp/help.el
@@ -1267,7 +1267,7 @@ describe-key
            (when defn
              (when (> (length info-list) 1)
                (with-current-buffer standard-output
-                (insert "\n\n" (make-separator-line) "\n")))
+                (insert "\n" (make-separator-line))))

              (insert brief-desc)
              (when locus

I've tested how 2 out of 3 look, but not the package.el's one (can't 
find a package with news for some reason) - Cc'ing Philip. The question 
is just does it look okay.

> And maybe start using it in Log-Edit too.
> 
> I agree, it would be good to consider using it there too.
This seems to work:

diff --git a/lisp/vc/log-edit.el b/lisp/vc/log-edit.el
index 1933b637998..325c7f88082 100644
--- a/lisp/vc/log-edit.el
+++ b/lisp/vc/log-edit.el
@@ -387,7 +387,7 @@ log-edit-summary
    "Face for the summary in `log-edit-mode' buffers.")

  (defface log-edit-headers-separator
-  '((t :height 0.1 :inverse-video t :extend t))
+  '((t :inherit separator-line :extend t))
    "Face for the separator line in `log-edit-mode' buffers."
    :version "29.1")

No fallback to a line with dashes which make-separator-line does on 
basic terminals, but we probably don't want that in log-edit.