GNU bug report logs - #38601
describe-mode never says the most important thing

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From: Juri Linkov <juri <at> linkov.net>
To: Phil Sainty <psainty <at> orcon.net.nz>
Cc: Tomas Nordin <tomasn <at> posteo.net>, 38601 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#38601: describe-mode never says the most important thing
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2019 23:36:24 +0200

>>> (I do think there's an argument for showing the mode symbol rather
>>> than a capitalised variant of the name in the `describe-mode' help;
>>> but that's a different conversation.)
>>
>> A different conversation but I didn't see that so I take the
>> opportunity to agree here. The capitalized variants of the command
>> name was always confusing to me -- is it the command name, only
>> with a big letter in the beginning, or is it some sort of doxy
>> description that is not the same as the command name. Easy to check,
>> but anyway.
>
> For the major mode it's just the `mode-name' value.
>
> For the minor modes it's the symbol name, sans "-minor-mode"/"-mode",
> passed through `capitalize': "foo-bar-mode" becomes "Foo-Bar".

At least, minor modes have links to their Help buffers
where the symbol name is displayed and available for
e.g. copying etc, but the major mode has no such link
in the `describe-mode' help, that's the problem that
should be fixed.

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