GNU bug report logs - #20462
25.0.50; A minor mode's doc string should say it is [local/global] a minor mode

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From: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
To: Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org>, 20462 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#20462: 25.0.50; A minor mode's doc string should say it is [local/global] a minor mode
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2015 06:47:58 -0700 (PDT)

> (define-globalized-minor-mode foo auto-fill-mode 'ignore)
> C-h foo
> Toggle Auto-Fill mode in all buffers.
> 
> 1) It's a minor mode (you can't toggle a major mode, nor sensibly
> apply it to all buffers).
> 2) It's global ("all buffers").
> (define-minor-mode blah nil)
> C-f blah
> Toggle Blah mode on or off.
> 1) It's a minor mode (you can't toggle a major mode)
> 2) Since it does not say it affects all buffers, don't assume it
> does.

Irrelevant to this bug report.  A command that toggles something,
including toggling a mode, is not necessarily a minor-mode command. 

See, for example, the misnamed `use-hard-newlines' command of
bug #20464.  It happens to be a minor-mode command.  But with
that name it might just as well not have been.  And there is
no way to tell from its doc string that it has anything to do
with a minor mode.  `define-globalized-minor-mode' and
`define-minor-mode' should explicitly add something to the
doc string to make clear that the command is not just some
command that toggles.  They should explicitly mention "minor mode".

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