Re: emacs -q -nw --color=never

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Richard Stallman <address@hidden>
> Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 19:20:12 -0400
> X-PRIVAWALL-ID: 0002556710ac
> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 26 Sep 2003 00:23:17.0468 (UTC) 
> FILETIME=[61D4F1C0:01C383C4]
> 
>     >   /* Canonicalize negative numbers to -1.  */
>     >   if (mode < 0)
>     >     mode = -1;
> 
>     I don't really object, but what problem would that solve?  The value
>     of `mode' is not supposed to be negative unless it's -1.
> 
> That's the point--a user could specify -2 or -1000.
> It may as well do something predictable.

The current code does something predictable as well: any number that
is not a positive number of colors and not -1 means the same as zero,
i.e. switch to the default number of colors, the one specified by the
terminal's termcap/terminfo entry.  (The code that does that is in
tty_setup_colors.)

Thus,

     emacs -nw --color=2000
and
     emacs -nw --color=-2000

produce the same result.  What you suggest will change that.

Do you think that negative arguments are ``special'' in the sense that
they imply that the feature is to be turned off?

(I should also add that the user is not supposed to use numbers as
arguments to the --color option, except if she specifies the number of
supported colors, like --colors=8 or --colors=256.  That is, I never
meant for them to say --colors=-1 or --colors=0, since the expected
effect of --colors=0 might be to turn off the colors, which is not
what happens.  Similarly, --colors=-2000 was not something I expected
users to say.)