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Explain more clearly what it takes to make a customization permanent.

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Explain global vs local minor modes first thing, then list the modes.
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Richard M. Stallman 2001-07-08 16:45:01 +00:00
parent 24b97d4bf8
commit da6e9d86ab
1 changed files with 32 additions and 31 deletions
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man/custom.texi
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@ -10,14 +10,13 @@
behavior of Emacs in minor ways. See @cite{The Emacs Lisp Reference
Manual} for how to make more far-reaching changes.
All kinds of customization affect only the particular Emacs session
that you do them in. They are completely lost when you kill the Emacs
session, and have no effect on other Emacs sessions you may run at the
same time or later. The only way an Emacs session can affect anything
outside of it is by writing a file; in particular, the only way to make
a customization ``permanent'' is to put something in your @file{.emacs}
file or other appropriate file to do the customization in each session.
@xref{Init File}.
Customization that you do within Emacs normally affects only the
particular Emacs session that you do it in--it does not persist
between sessions unless you save the customization in a file such as
@file{.emacs} or @file{.Xdefaults} that will change future sessions.
@xref{Init File}. In the customization buffer, if you use a
command to save customizations for future sessions, this actually
works by editing @file{.emacs} for you.
@menu
* Minor Modes:: Each minor mode is one feature you can turn on
@ -61,12 +60,31 @@ off and off if it was on. This is known as @dfn{toggling}. A positive
argument always turns the mode on, and an explicit zero argument or a
negative argument always turns it off.
Enabling or disabling some minor modes applies only to the current
buffer; each buffer is independent of the other buffers. Therefore, you
can enable the mode in particular buffers and disable it in others. The
per-buffer minor modes include Abbrev mode, Auto Fill mode, Auto Save
mode, Font-Lock mode, ISO Accents mode, Outline minor
mode, Overwrite mode, and Binary Overwrite mode.
Some minor modes are global: while enabled, they affect everything
you do in the Emacs session, in all buffers. Other minor modes are
buffer-local; they apply only to the current buffer, so you can enable
the mode in certain buffers and not others.
For most minor modes, the command name is also the name of a
variable which directly controls the mode. The mode is enabled
whenever this variable's value is non-@code{nil}, and the minor-mode
command works by setting the variable. For example, the command
@code{outline-minor-mode} works by setting the value of
@code{outline-minor-mode} as a variable; it is this variable that
directly turns Outline minor mode on and off. To check whether a
given minor mode works this way, use @kbd{C-h v} to ask for
documentation on the variable name.
These minor-mode variables provide a good way for Lisp programs to turn
minor modes on and off; they are also useful in a file's local variables
list. But please think twice before setting minor modes with a local
variables list, because most minor modes are matter of user
preference---other users editing the same file might not want the same
minor modes you prefer.
The buffer-local minor modes include Abbrev mode, Auto Fill mode,
Auto Save mode, Font-Lock mode, ISO Accents mode, Outline minor mode,
Overwrite mode, and Binary Overwrite mode.
Abbrev mode allows you to define abbreviations that automatically expand
as you type them. For example, @samp{amd} might expand to @samp{abbrev
@ -149,23 +167,6 @@ explicitly ``reactivate'' it, before each command that uses the region.
The advantage of Transient Mark mode is that Emacs can display the
region highlighted (currently only when using X). @xref{Mark}.
For most minor modes, the command name is also the name of a variable
which directly controls the mode. The mode is enabled whenever this
variable's value is non-@code{nil}, and the minor-mode command works by
setting the variable. For example, the command
@code{outline-minor-mode} works by setting the value of
@code{outline-minor-mode} as a variable; it is this variable that
directly turns Outline minor mode on and off. To check whether a given
minor mode works this way, use @kbd{C-h v} to ask for documentation on
the variable name.
These minor-mode variables provide a good way for Lisp programs to turn
minor modes on and off; they are also useful in a file's local variables
list. But please think twice before setting minor modes with a local
variables list, because most minor modes are matter of user
preference---other users editing the same file might not want the same
minor modes you prefer.
@node Variables
@section Variables
@cindex variable