bug#7783: 24.0.50; (elisp) autoloading nodes, autoload cookie for define-globalized-minor-mode,...

[Drew Adams]

emacs -Q
 
C-h i, choose Elisp
 
Search for autoload. The first occurrence is `Autoload Type', in
subsection `Programming Types'.
 
The second occurrence is `Autoloading', in subsection `Kinds of Forms'.
It is supposed to be a node on "Functions set up to load files
containing their real definitions" ("their" is not super clear).
 
So the main menu entry for `Autoloading' is that node.
 
Continuing to search in the top-level menu we come to `Autoload' in
subsection `Loading'.
 
So we see that there are at least 3 nodes with very similar node names:
`Autoload Type', `Autoloading', and `Autoload'.  The first part of this
bug is that the names should be more specific, referring to the topics
of their relative subsections or some other specificity.
 
Next, follow the menu link to node `Autoloading'.  It is not, as the
main menu said, a node that describes or explains "Functions set up to
load files containing their real definitions".  It is a node that is
nearly vacuous of content.  It simply gives some general blah-blah about
autoloading and then sends you off to node `Autoload'.  So the second
part of this bug is to clean this up - either get rid of this node or
DTRT wrt its purported topic (and rename it, since the name is too
general for the topic).
 
Following that link we finally get to node `Autoload', which is where
autoloading is explained.  There should be a top-level, main menu entry
to this node, and not just a link buried in some subsection (let along 3
links in 3 subsections).
 
Finally, in node `Autoload' we say that these constructs are handled by
cookies: 
 
"Function-defining forms" include `define-skeleton',
`define-derived-mode', `define-generic-mode' and `define-minor-mode' as
well as `defun' and `defmacro'.
 
What about `define-globalized-minor-mode'?  If that is not handled
similarly, then that is a code bug - it should be.  If it is handled
similarly by a cookie then it should be included in the doc list.  Users
should not need to consult the source code to try to determine what
an autoload cookie before `define-globalized-minor-mode' will do.
 

In GNU Emacs 24.0.50.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600)
 of 2011-01-03 on 3249CTO
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 5.1.2600
configured using `configure --with-gcc (4.4) --no-opt --cflags
-Ic:/imagesupport/include'
 
Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: ENU
  value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
  locale-coding-system: cp1252
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t
 
Major mode: Info
 
Minor modes in effect:
  tooltip-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  tool-bar-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t
 
Recent input:
C-h i <tab> <tab> <tab> <tab> <tab> <return> C-s a 
u t o l o a d C-s <return> <return> l <help-echo> <help-echo> 
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
<menu-bar> <help-menu> <send-emacs-bug-report>
 
Recent messages:
For information about GNU Emacs and the GNU system, type C-h C-a.
Composing main Info directory...done
Mark saved where search started
 
Load-path shadows:
c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/emacs-lisp/sregex hides
c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/obsolete/sregex
c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/pgg hides c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/obsolete/pgg
c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/pgg-pgp5 hides
c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/obsolete/pgg-pgp5
c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/pgg-pgp hides
c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/obsolete/pgg-pgp
c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/pgg-parse hides
c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/obsolete/pgg-parse
c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/pgg-gpg hides
c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/obsolete/pgg-gpg
c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/pgg-def hides
c:/Emacs-24-2011-01-03/lisp/obsolete/pgg-def
 
Features:
(shadow sort gnus-util mail-extr message rfc822 mml mml-sec mm-decode
mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums
mm-util mail-prsvr mailabbrev mail-utils gmm-utils mailheader emacsbug
multi-isearch info easymenu dired regexp-opt tooltip ediff-hook vc-hooks
lisp-float-type mwheel dos-w32 disp-table ls-lisp w32-win w32-vars
tool-bar dnd fontset image fringe lisp-mode register page menu-bar
rfn-eshadow timer select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax
facemenu font-core frame cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese
tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean japanese hebrew greek romanian slovak
czech european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese case-table epa-hook
jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev button minibuffer faces cus-face files
text-properties overlay md5 base64 format env code-pages mule custom
widget hashtable-print-readable backquote make-network-process multi-tty
emacs)