Both the context_id and the message_id can be generated by the statusbar comfortably here as elsewhere in the GtkStatusbar methods.

If you use this simply to replace a working pop() function you should see no difference in behaviour; the remove() method even causes the "text-popped" signal to be emitted when it removes a message from the top of the stack. Note that no signal is emitted when messages are taken from elsewhere in the stack.

As there is no way to add a message anywhere other than the top of the statusbar's stack - thereby immediately displaying it - this method is basically a way of preventing a stack build-up where the pop/push procedure has proved inappropriate.