Re: grep (was Re: inconsistent behavior of M-x info)

[Richard Stallman]

    ;;;###autoload (autoload 'grep-mode "grep" nil t)
    (define-compilation-mode grep-mode "Grep"
      "Sets `grep-last-buffer' and `compilation-window-height'."
      (setq grep-last-buffer (current-buffer))
      (set (make-local-variable 'compilation-error-face)
           grep-hit-face)
      (set (make-local-variable 'compilation-error-regexp-alist)
           grep-regexp-alist))

    I think the autoload was accidentally commented out, and the above
    should read

That autoload is not commented out.  It says to put

   (autoload 'grep-mode "grep" nil t)

into the loaddefs.el file.

Is such a form present in loaddefs.el?  If so, why doesn't it
do the job?  It ought to.

It does have a bug, in that it lacks a copy of the doc string.

    I think the autoload was accidentally commented out, and the above
    should read


    ;;;###autoload 
    (define-compilation-mode grep-mode "Grep"
      "Sets `grep-last-buffer' and `compilation-window-height'."
      (setq grep-last-buffer (current-buffer))
      (set (make-local-variable 'compilation-error-face)
           grep-hit-face)
      (set (make-local-variable 'compilation-error-regexp-alist)
           grep-regexp-alist))

    (autoload 'grep-mode "grep" nil t)

That can't be right.  The call to autoload would be a no-op since
grep-mode is already defined.

I don't know whether the loaddefs.el generator knows how to cope
properly with ;;;###autoload before a define-compilation-mode form.
To copy the form unchanged into loaddefs.el would be incorrect just as
copying a defun form unchanged into loaddefs.el would be incorrect.
The code that updates autoloads needs to know about function-defining
forms specially.  If it doesn't know about define-compilation-mode yet,
you could fix it to handle that form properly.