Splash screen problems

Splash screen problems

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hi, Emacs.

A happy Easter to all who observe it, and a good day to everybody else!

I recently tried to disable Emacs 22's splash screen (aka startup
message) because it was getting on my nerves.  As a first try, I put
"(setq inhibit-splash-screen t)" into my site-start.el (since the
irritation is just as intense when I start Emacs as root).  This didn't
work.

The Emacs manual (page "Initial Options") mentions the variable as an
aside, but fails to state it doesn't work in site-start.el.  It also
calls it "inhibit-startup-message", even though that name is now a mere
alias for inhibit-splash-screen.

I think "splash screen" (and "startup message") should appear in the
concept index, to make it easier for people to find the option.

The doc string for the variable does say "in your PERSONAL init file",
but I don't think this is emphatic enough, given how few variables
(few enough to be counted on the hands of one arm?) share this property
and that "in your init file" normally works equally well "in your
site-start.el".

So I propose the following changes:


2007-04-08  Alan Mackenzie  <acm@muc.de>

	* startup.el (inhibit-splash-screen): Emphatically state that it
	can't be set in site-start.el.


*** startup.el~	2007-04-04 23:26:31.000000000 +0100
--- startup.el	2007-04-08 15:07:18.242746328 +0100
***************
*** 44,51 ****
    "Non-nil inhibits the startup screen.
  It also inhibits display of the initial message in the `*scratch*' buffer.
  
! This is for use in your personal init file, once you are familiar
! with the contents of the startup screen."
    :type 'boolean
    :group 'initialization)
  
--- 44,51 ----
    "Non-nil inhibits the startup screen.
  It also inhibits display of the initial message in the `*scratch*' buffer.
  
! This is for use in your personal init file (but NOT site-start.el), once
! you are familiar with the contents of the startup screen."
    :type 'boolean
    :group 'initialization)
  


2007-04-08  Alan Mackenzie  <acm@muc.de>

	* cmdargs.texi (Initial Options): Call "inhibit-splash-screen" by its
	new name.  Insert concept index entries.


*** cmdargs.texi~	2007-03-07 22:40:41.000000000 +0000
--- cmdargs.texi	2007-04-08 15:09:48.819855128 +0100
***************
*** 279,287 ****
  
  @item --no-splash
  @opindex --no-splash
! @vindex inhibit-startup-message
! Do not display a splash screen on startup; this is equivalent to
! setting the variable @code{inhibit-startup-message} to non-@code{nil}.
  
  @item --no-desktop
  @opindex --no-desktop
--- 279,292 ----
  
  @item --no-splash
  @opindex --no-splash
! @vindex inhibit-splash-screen
! @cindex splash screen
! @cindex startup message
! Do not display a splash screen on startup.  You can also achieve this
! effect by setting the variable @code{inhibit-splash-screen} to
! non-@code{nil} in you personal init file (but @emph{not} in
! @file{site-start.el}).  (This variable was called
! @code{inhibit-startup-message} in previous Emacs versions.)
  
  @item --no-desktop
  @opindex --no-desktop


-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Ittersbach, Germany).

Re: Splash screen problems

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: 8 Apr 2007 15:19:23 +0200
> Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2007 15:38:41 +0100
> From: Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>
> 
> I recently tried to disable Emacs 22's splash screen (aka startup
> message) because it was getting on my nerves.  As a first try, I put
> "(setq inhibit-splash-screen t)" into my site-start.el

What a bizarre thing to do in site-start.el!!  Why don't have mercy on
the other poor users of your system?

> (since the irritation is just as intense when I start Emacs as
> root).

root can have a .emacs file as well, you know.

Re: Splash screen problems

[Alan Mackenzie]

'Evening, Eli!

On Mon, Apr 09, 2007 at 12:10:04AM +0300, Eli Zaretskii wrote:

> > I recently tried to disable Emacs 22's splash screen (aka startup
> > message) because it was getting on my nerves.  As a first try, I put
> > "(setq inhibit-splash-screen t)" into my site-start.el

> What a bizarre thing to do in site-start.el!!  Why don't have mercy on
> the other poor users of your system?

The other users are me and me.  ;-)  I don't think that's that unusual
for users of PCs nowadays.

> > (since the irritation is just as intense when I start Emacs as
> > root).

> root can have a .emacs file as well, you know.

Yes, but copying and pasting between them isn't a very good idea, because
there are bugs even in my .emacs, my other .emacs and my third .emacs.
So things that I want for all "users", I put in site-start.el, so that
they only need debugging once.

Did you look at my patches?

-- 
Alan.

Re: Splash screen problems

[Kim F. Storm]

Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> writes:

> 'Evening, Eli!
>
> On Mon, Apr 09, 2007 at 12:10:04AM +0300, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>
>> > I recently tried to disable Emacs 22's splash screen (aka startup
>> > message) because it was getting on my nerves.  As a first try, I put
>> > "(setq inhibit-splash-screen t)" into my site-start.el
>
>> What a bizarre thing to do in site-start.el!!  Why don't have mercy on
>> the other poor users of your system?
>
> The other users are me and me.  ;-)  I don't think that's that unusual
> for users of PCs nowadays.

Can you set it in site-lisp/default.el ?


> Did you look at my patches?

They look good to me!

-- 
Kim F. Storm <storm@cua.dk> http://www.cua.dk

Re: Splash screen problems

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Kim F. Storm writes:
 > Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> writes:
 > >> > I recently tried to disable Emacs 22's splash screen (aka startup
 > >> > message) because it was getting on my nerves.  As a first try, I put
 > >> > "(setq inhibit-splash-screen t)" into my site-start.el

 > Can you set it in site-lisp/default.el ?

XEmacs's startup.el makes setting `inhibit-startup-message' from site
files (either site-start or default.el) difficult.[1]  After all, the
logic for not allowing it is the same for both.  I suppose the code
was inherited from Emacs, so it's probably the same.


Footnotes: 
[1]  There are several ways to achieve equivalent effects, of course,
and only the documented method for inhibiting the splash screen is
blocked.

Re: Splash screen problems

[Lennart Borgman (gmail)]

Alan Mackenzie wrote:

> Yes, but copying and pasting between them isn't a very good idea, because
> there are bugs even in my .emacs, my other .emacs and my third .emacs.
> So things that I want for all "users", I put in site-start.el, so that
> they only need debugging once.


Something like (load my-real-dot-emacs)?

Re: Splash screen problems

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: 8 Apr 2007 23:41:56 +0200
> Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2007 00:01:19 +0100
> Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org
> From: Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>
> 
> > What a bizarre thing to do in site-start.el!!  Why don't have mercy on
> > the other poor users of your system?
> 
> The other users are me and me.  ;-)  I don't think that's that unusual
> for users of PCs nowadays.

Then there's no real reason to have site-init.el, IMO.

> > root can have a .emacs file as well, you know.
> 
> Yes, but copying and pasting between them isn't a very good idea, because
> there are bugs even in my .emacs, my other .emacs and my third .emacs.
> So things that I want for all "users", I put in site-start.el, so that
> they only need debugging once.

Doesn't look to me like a reason not to have a .emacs for root.

> Did you look at my patches?

Yes, of course.  While I'm always for ``more documentation'', I'm not
sure this is a very good idea in this case, because there are many
other customizations that will not work in site-init.el.

Re: Splash screen problems

[Richard Stallman]

Please install your patches.

Re: Splash screen problems

[Alan Mackenzie]

On Mon, Apr 09, 2007 at 11:41:52AM -0400, Richard Stallman wrote:
> Please install your patches.

DONE.

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Ittersbach, Germany).