splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Colin Walters]

Up until fairly recently, if you gave Emacs any command line arguments
(e.g. a filename, or -f function), Emacs wouldn't display the splash
screen on startup.

I'm not connected to the 'net right now, so I can't look at the CVS
logs, but from looking at the ChangeLog, I'm guessing it happened as a
side-effect of the following change:

2002-01-29  Pavel Janík  <Pavel@Janik.cz>

	* startup.el (normal-splash-screen, display-splash-screen):
	New functions (separated from command-line-1).
	(command-line-1): Use them.

Was this effect intentional?  If not, I would very much like to revert
to the previous behavior of Emacs 21.1 and Emacs 20.  When testing
ibuffer and other packages, I often do:

emacs -q --no-site-file -f ibuffer

and it's annoying to have to hit a key to get past the splash screen.

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Miles Bader]

Colin Walters <walters@verbum.org> writes:
> Was this effect intentional?  If not, I would very much like to revert
> to the previous behavior of Emacs 21.1 and Emacs 20.

I agree with you, that the new behavior is awful, but the change was
intentional.

-Miles
-- 
97% of everything is grunge

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Pavel Janík]

   From: Miles Bader <miles@lsi.nec.co.jp>
   Date: 23 May 2002 11:39:38 +0900

Hi,

   > Colin Walters <walters@verbum.org> writes:
   > > Was this effect intentional?  If not, I would very much like to revert
   > > to the previous behavior of Emacs 21.1 and Emacs 20.
   > 
   > I agree with you, that the new behavior is awful, but the change was
   > intentional.

I too agree with Colin. BTW - it was not mine change what does that. It was
Richard's decision and he did it.
-- 
Pavel Janík

It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it
and remove all doubt.
                  -- Ion Badulescu in linux-kernel

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Robert J. Chassell]

Colin Walters <walters@verbum.org> wrote:

   ... When testing ibuffer and other packages, I often do:

       emacs -q --no-site-file -f ibuffer

   and it's annoying to have to hit a key to get past the splash screen.

I don't know for sure, but suspect that the rational for the change is
that many installations for novices include a --funcall argument
provided by a system administrator.  Nonetheless, the novices should
still have the opportunity of seeing the splash screen since that
tells them how to get started.  .

You might change your test script to:

        emacs -q --no-site-file --eval '(blink-cursor-mode 0)' \
        --eval '(setq inhibit-startup-message t)' \
        --funcall=ibuffer

Incidentally, on using the CVS snapshot of 
    GNU Emacs 21.2.50.138 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, X toolkit) of 2002-05-22 
without the inhibit-startup-message variable set to t, I found that
the text inserted into the Splash screen by ibuffer is confusing.

Because of the font, I could not determine whether the command to
start editing your file was to type C-1, C-l, C-I, or C-|.  The
command looked like C-|.

When running

    emacs -q --no-site-file --eval '(blink-cursor-mode 0)' --funcall=ibuffer

the splash screen says

    Type C-| to begin editing your file.

After typing C-l, I did not find myself in my file, but in the ibuffer
directory.  This switch makes sense to me as an expert, but a novice
might expect Emacs to present the most recently edited file from the
previous session or all the files from files from the previous
session.

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                  bob@rattlesnake.com
    Rattlesnake Enterprises             http://www.rattlesnake.com

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Colin Walters]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 811 bytes --]

[ thank you for not CCing me ]

On Thu, 2002-05-23 at 08:39, Robert J. Chassell wrote:

> I don't know for sure, but suspect that the rational for the change is
> that many installations for novices include a --funcall argument
> provided by a system administrator. 

I don't understand; why wouldn't the sysadmins just frob site-start.el?

>         --eval '(setq inhibit-startup-message t)' \

How about the following patch, which adds a --nosplash argument?

> Incidentally, on using the CVS snapshot of 
>     GNU Emacs 21.2.50.138 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, X toolkit) of 2002-05-22 
> without the inhibit-startup-message variable set to t, I found that
> the text inserted into the Splash screen by ibuffer is confusing.

I agree, it's confusing, and another good reason to revert to the
previous behavior :)




[-- Attachment #2: nosplash.patch --]
[-- Type: text/x-patch, Size: 3730 bytes --]

Index: man/cmdargs.texi
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/emacs/emacs/man/cmdargs.texi,v
retrieving revision 1.61
diff -u -d -r1.61 cmdargs.texi
--- man/cmdargs.texi	1 Apr 2002 23:05:22 -0000	1.61
+++ man/cmdargs.texi	23 May 2002 23:32:03 -0000
@@ -215,6 +215,12 @@
 and @samp{-batch} have no effect on the loading of this file---this is
 the only option that blocks it.
 
+@item --nosplash
+@opindex --nosplash
+@vindex inhibit-startup-message
+Do not display a splash screen on startup; this is equivlaent to
+setting the variable @code{inhibit-startup-message} to non-nil.
+
 @item -u @var{user}
 @opindex -u
 @itemx --user=@var{user}
Index: lisp/startup.el
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/emacs/emacs/lisp/startup.el,v
retrieving revision 1.296
diff -u -d -r1.296 startup.el
--- lisp/startup.el	20 Apr 2002 22:25:55 -0000	1.296
+++ lisp/startup.el	23 May 2002 23:32:03 -0000
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@
 ;; -no-site-file             Do not load "site-start.el".  (This is the ONLY
 ;; --no-site-file            way to prevent loading that file.)
 ;; -------------------------
+;; -nosplash                 Don't display a splash screen on startup.
+;; --nosplash
+;; -------------------------
 ;; -u USER                   Load USER's init file instead of the init
 ;; -user USER                file belonging to the user starting Emacs.
 ;; --user USER
@@ -749,24 +752,25 @@
     ;; does things.
     (while (and (not done) args)
       (let ((longopts '(("--no-init-file") ("--no-site-file") ("--user")
-			("--debug-init") ("--iconic") ("--icon-type")))
+			("--debug-init") ("--iconic") ("--icon-type")
+			("--nosplash")))
 	    (argi (pop args))
 	    (argval nil))
 	;; Handle --OPTION=VALUE format.
-	(if (and (string-match "\\`--" argi)
-		 (string-match "=" argi))
-	    (setq argval (substring argi (match-end 0))
-		  argi (substring argi 0 (match-beginning 0))))
-	(or (equal argi "--")
-	    (let ((completion (try-completion argi longopts)))
-	      (if (eq completion t)
-		  (setq argi (substring argi 1))
-		(if (stringp completion)
-		    (let ((elt (assoc completion longopts)))
-		      (or elt
-			  (error "Option `%s' is ambiguous" argi))
-		      (setq argi (substring (car elt) 1)))
-		  (setq argval nil)))))
+	(when (and (string-match "\\`--" argi)
+		   (string-match "=" argi))
+	  (setq argval (substring argi (match-end 0))
+		argi (substring argi 0 (match-beginning 0))))
+	(unless (equal argi "--")
+	  (let ((completion (try-completion argi longopts)))
+	    (if (eq completion t)
+		(setq argi (substring argi 1))
+	      (if (stringp completion)
+		  (let ((elt (assoc completion longopts)))
+		    (or elt
+			(error "Option `%s' is ambiguous" argi))
+		    (setq argi (substring (car elt) 1)))
+		(setq argval nil)))))
 	(cond
 	 ((member argi '("-q" "-no-init-file"))
 	  (setq init-file-user nil))
@@ -1503,7 +1507,7 @@
 	    ;; and long versions of what's on command-switch-alist.
 	    (longopts
 	     (append '(("--funcall") ("--load") ("--insert") ("--kill")
-		       ("--directory") ("--eval") ("--execute")
+		       ("--directory") ("--eval") ("--execute") ("--nosplash")
 		       ("--find-file") ("--visit") ("--file"))
 		     (mapcar (lambda (elt)
 			       (list (concat "-" (car elt))))
@@ -1555,6 +1559,9 @@
 			      (cons argval command-line-args-left)))
 			 (funcall (cdr tem) argi))
 		     (funcall (cdr tem) argi)))
+
+		  ((string-equal argi "-nosplash")
+		   (setq inhibit-startup-message t))
 
 		  ((member argi '("-f"	;what the manual claims
 				  "-funcall"

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Francesco Potorti`]

Miles Bader <miles@lsi.nec.co.jp> writes:

   I agree with you, that the new behavior is awful, but the change was
   intentional.

I thought it was a bug and it would go away soon...

I often call Emacs with a --funcall argument that load certain things,
and now I have to start the session by pressing ^L.

Not the worst thing in the world, but a little annoying.
Okay, I can set inhibit-start-message in my .emacs.

By the way, wouldn't it be wise to have an alias for
inhibit-start-message that contains the word "splash", such as
inhibit-splash-screen or the like?

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Richard Stallman]

    Up until fairly recently, if you gave Emacs any command line arguments
    (e.g. a filename, or -f function), Emacs wouldn't display the splash
    screen on startup.

I made this change so that users who always run Emacs with a file name
would see the splash screen.  It used to be some of them would never
see it, and never learn the info it offers.

The idea is that if you are experienced you can turn off the splash
screen easily enough.  Anyway, experienced users usually don't give
command line arguments that specify files, so you would have seen
the splash screen anyway.

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Richard Stallman]

An argument like --nosplash seems like a good idea to me.
Please add it.

But first, is there a better name for it?
--no-startup-help would be better, I think.
Is there a name used by other programs already?

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Robert J. Chassell]

       Up until fairly recently, if you gave Emacs any command line arguments
       (e.g. a filename, or -f function), Emacs wouldn't display the splash
       screen on startup.

   I made this change so that users who always run Emacs with a file name
   would see the splash screen.  It used to be some of them would never
   see it, and never learn the info it offers.

This is a good reason: people who start Emacs with a file name really,
really need to learn about Emacs, since starting with a file name
generally indicates a wasteful and wrong way to approach Emacs.  

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                  bob@rattlesnake.com
    Rattlesnake Enterprises             http://www.rattlesnake.com

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Colin Walters]

On Fri, 2002-05-24 at 17:14, Richard Stallman wrote:
> An argument like --nosplash seems like a good idea to me.
> Please add it.

Ok, done.

> But first, is there a better name for it?
> --no-startup-help would be better, I think.
> Is there a name used by other programs already?

Some GNOME programs (e.g. Evolution) use --no-splash, others (e.g.
AbiWord) use -nosplash.  So there is precedent for this name (and it's
shorter), so that's what I added.

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Colin Walters]

On Fri, 2002-05-24 at 08:06, Francesco Potorti` wrote:

> By the way, wouldn't it be wise to have an alias for
> inhibit-start-message that contains the word "splash", such as
> inhibit-splash-screen or the like?

I agree; I had to look at the source code to figure out that it was
`inhibit-start-message' which controlled the splash screen.  So I just
added:

(defvaralias 'inhibit-splash-screen 'inhibit-startup-message)

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Miles Bader]

Colin Walters <walters@verbum.org> writes:
> Some GNOME programs (e.g. Evolution) use --no-splash, others (e.g.
> AbiWord) use -nosplash.  So there is precedent for this name (and it's
> shorter), so that's what I added.

Regardless, it should at least be consistent with the rest of emacs'
options in style, i.e. `--no-splash' instead of `--nosplash'.

-Miles
-- 
We live, as we dream -- alone....

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Eli Zaretskii]

On 26 May 2002, Colin Walters wrote:

> On Fri, 2002-05-24 at 17:14, Richard Stallman wrote:
> > An argument like --nosplash seems like a good idea to me.
> > Please add it.
> 
> Ok, done.

Did you commit that change?  I don't see it in today's CVS.

Anyway, please don't forget to mention the change in NEWS, and please 
consider updating the user manual with the description of the new switch.

Thanks!

> Some GNOME programs (e.g. Evolution) use --no-splash, others (e.g.
> AbiWord) use -nosplash.  So there is precedent for this name (and it's
> shorter), so that's what I added.

Perhaps we should support both spellings.

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Colin Walters]

On Mon, 2002-05-27 at 01:22, Eli Zaretskii wrote:

> Did you commit that change?  I don't see it in today's CVS.

Yeees...I did that last night, at: date: 2002/05/26 20:49:28 according
to CVS (what timezone is that in, anyways?  UTC?)

Are you sure you aren't looking at the 21.3 snapshot?

> Anyway, please don't forget to mention the change in NEWS

I have already done that in my local copy, but I have a couple of other
changes to NEWS (relating to the font-lock and the (pending) compiler
changes), which I haven't bothered to extricate so I can just commit the
startup.el news entry.

, and please 
> consider updating the user manual with the description of the new switch.

Did that too.

> Perhaps we should support both spellings.

I just changed it to --no-splash, because as Miles said it's more
consistent with the other Emacs options.  I think AbiWord is rather in
the minority with -nosplash, and I don't imagine this option will be
used very often, so it's probably not worth supporting both.  We could
always add it later if we need to, though.

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Richard Stallman]

    Regardless, it should at least be consistent with the rest of emacs'
    options in style, i.e. `--no-splash' instead of `--nosplash'.

Yes, absolutely.  Also, --no-splash is consistent with other GNU
packages (GNOME).

Re: splash screen display when Emacs is given arguments

[Eli Zaretskii]

On 27 May 2002, Colin Walters wrote:

> On Mon, 2002-05-27 at 01:22, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> 
> > Did you commit that change?  I don't see it in today's CVS.
> 
> Yeees...I did that last night, at: date: 2002/05/26 20:49:28 according
> to CVS (what timezone is that in, anyways?  UTC?)
> 
> Are you sure you aren't looking at the 21.3 snapshot?

Yes, I'm sure.

I think this happened because the Emacs repository is actually 2 
repositories which are resynced from time to time.

> , and please 
> > consider updating the user manual with the description of the new switch.
> 
> Did that too.

Thanks!