Re: Proposal: emacs -Q option

[Bill Wohler <wohler@newt.com>]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@elta.co.il> writes:

>> From: no-spam@cua.dk (Kim F. Storm)
>> Date: 05 Feb 2004 02:42:44 +0100
>> 
>>         emacs -q --no-site-file --no-splash 
>>               --eval '(blink-cursor-mode -1)' 
>>               --eval '(tool-bar-mode -1)'
>>               --eval '(scroll-bar-mode -1)'
>>               --eval '(tooltip-mode -1)'
>>               --eval '(setq visible-bell t)'
>> 
>> (the last line is because the audible bell drives me crazy).
>> 
>> I propose to add a -Q option which is equivalent to this, i.e.
>> 
>>         emacs -Q
>> 
>> does the same thing as the above call.
>
> IMHO, using -Q for "-q --no-site-file" is fine, but adding all the
> other turn-offs makes this switch too heavily loaded.  Why does it
> make sense to combine  "-q --no-site-file", which basically means
> ``defeat all local deviations from the defaults'' with the rest,
> which disable fancy features?  And what does visible-bell setting
> have to do with turning off features?
>
> I'd say let's make two options, one for "-q --no-site-file", the other
> for --no-splash and the --eval options mentioned above, excluding the
> visible-bell one.

I agree with Eli, and I'll add a couple of comments.

I'd exclude blink-cursor-mode from -Q since that is a personal
preference as well. (Personally, I *hate* visible-bell--I just turn down
the volume on the bell. I *hate* a blinking cursor as well, but I'll
save my breath on that battle. There are obviously good reasons why the
default is to blink, and I'll bet accessibility is one of them.)

I'd lump the tool-bar-mode, scroll-bar-mode, tooltip-mode into a --nogui
option, since that is essentially what you're doing. To that list, it
would make sense to turn off menu-bar-mode as well. The use of the
--nogui option might make sense as a default with the -nw option.

-- 
Bill Wohler <wohler@newt.com>  http://www.newt.com/wohler/  GnuPG ID:610BD9AD
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