On 7/6/2011 6:49 AM, Stefan Monnier wrote:

> Note: if a mode derives from special-mode, then it does not need the
> (put 'foo-mode 'mode-class 'special).

OK, I see some instances where this is still present although the mode 
is derived from special-mode. I assume those can be removed then?

> The general rule should be that it is, but check that it's compatible.
> Basically special-mode has a read-only buffer and some standard
> key-bindings, so as long as there's no deep conflict in the key-bindings
> and the mode is read-only, it should derive.

OK. I picked help-mode to start with, since the original item in TODO 
says modes using view-mode should be using special-mode now. See the 
attached patch for review.

> define-derived-mode will set the keymap parent to special-mode-map if
> the mode's keymap doesn't already have a parent.

There is multiple instances where the mode derives from special-mode, 
but the keymap parent is explicitly set to special-mode also. Should 
those be removed?

> (One of) the purposes of special-mode is to standardize key bindings, so
> I think that thumbs-kill-buffer will have to go: it does something
> similar to quit-window, and the differences are just an annoyance.
> In other cases, the key-binding conflicts may need to be resolved by finding
> new keys, rather than just ditching the old binding.

There is quite a few of these mode-specific functions. I will do a 
survey and see if any modes do special (as in unusual) things in these 
functions, which would not be covered by `quit-window'.

Christoph