Juanma Barranquero wrote:

>I'm having a few problems with highlight-changes-mode, which is a
>not-very-standard minor mode.
>  
>
Yes, the desktop module expects minor modes to follow the conventions.
The only mechanism
to deal with non-conventional minor modes is `desktop-minor-mode-table'
that allows the
minor mode variable and minor mode function to have different names.

To restore highlight changes mode, the function `highlight-changes-mode'
needs to be
called with the value of `highlight-changes-mode' to get the correct
"sub-mode". So what
is needed is something like `desktop-buffer-mode-handlers', but for
minor modes.
I suggest the patch below.
It allows modules defining minor modes to define their own restore
function without
having to change the desktop module.

>The other question is: why does `desktop-save' save `nil' for active
>minor-modes which do appear in `desktop-minor-mode-table' as
>non-restorable?
>  
>
I don't think there is any good reason. The patch below includes your
suggested change
(the second one).

Now I have a question: To allow modules defining major or minor modes to
add a special
handler to `desktop-buffer-mode-handlers' or
`desktop-minor-mode-handlers', the module
in question must be loaded before the major or minor mode function is
called. To do that,
the patch below defines the following function:

   (defun desktop-load-file (function)
     "Load the file where auto loaded FUNCTION is defined."
     (let ((fcell (symbol-function function)))
       (when (and (listp fcell)
                  (eq 'autoload (car fcell)))
         (load (cadr fcell)))))

This function assumes that the mode function is autoloaded. Is this
requirement ok?
Is there a better solution?