bug#32643: 26; minor-mode variables

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2018 17:10:09 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> Cc: rms@gnu.org, 32643@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > As for auto-fill-mode, can you tell why it is important to have a
> > variable there?  What cannot you do without that variable?
> 
> No, according to the convention the shoe is on the other foot.
> Why should it not have a variable? That's the convention.
> Why should `auto-fill-mode' be an exception?

Because it always was like that.

> You can do `C-h v auto-fill-mode' to check whether it is on.
> Minor modes do not necessarily have mode-line lighters.

But auto-fill-mode does have a lighter.

> > > > I think the manual already does what you want, it just doesn't say
> > > > this is a bug (because it isn't, IMO).
> > >
> > > The manual says nothing, AFAICT, that provides guidance about when
> > > a mode should not or need not have a variable. Based on what it does
> > > say, each mode "should" have a variable. Is that your point?
> > 
> > My point is that the manual recommends that there be a variable.
> 
> No one disagrees that that is the case.

Then you agree that "the manual already does what you want", yes?

> > > Keeping the text suggests that there is some good reason why some
> > > modes do not have variables.
> > 
> > There's no such suggestion, it's just a statement of a fact.
> 
> Why is that fact stated?

OK, I think this discussion goes nowhere, so let's stop here.