Subject: 23.1.92; Emacs manual, node Persistent Marks

From: "Drew Adams" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:03:32 -0700

emacs -Q

In GNU Emacs 23.1.92.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600)
 of 2010-02-20 on LENNART-69DE564
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 5.1.2600
configured using `configure --with-gcc (3.4) --no-opt --cflags -Ic:/g/include
-fno-crossjumping'

1. The node says:

  "When Transient Mark mode is off, the mark is _never_ deactivated..."

This is wrong. And it confuses users. Check `C-h v mark-active' with t-m-mode
off and see if what it says makes sense in combination with this Info doc (no).

The truth is that when t-m-mode is off there is no notion of an active mark.
That is what should be said (and it was said like that in the past). The notion
of an active mark and region is a t-m-mode notion.

2. Replace undo (`C-x u') in the example given by a more typical command wrt
t-m-mode (e.g. query-replace). Things are said in this paragraph that are not
general but are specific to `undo', and that's not the message we are trying to
get across here. (You typically cannot use `C-u' to make such commands operate
on the region when the region is inactive.)

3. "`C-u C-x C-x'  Activate the mark without changing it". Remove "without
changing it". That doesn't add anything except confusion. All the `C-u' does is
activate the mark, period. `C-u C-x C-x' still swaps point and mark ("changing"
the mark).