Subject: Bug#4356: menu-bar-mode flag argument is inconsistent with universe

From: Ian Jackson <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 31 Aug 96 13:57 BST

Package: emacs
Version: 19.31-2

I used to have in my startup files
 (menu-bar-mode nil)
which used to turn off menu bars.

In 19.31 this has changed so that `nil' doesn't have the desired
effect.  Instead, you have to supply a negative number !

This is totally inconsistent with almost every other emacs-lisp
function.

menu-bar-mode should accept `nil' to turn menu bars off and `t' to
turn them on.  I don't have an opinion about whether positive and
negative numbers ought to be supported.

Ian.

---

From: [email-masked] (Mark W. Eichin)
Date: 31 Aug 1996 15:25:17 -0400

> effect.  Instead, you have to supply a negative number !

Hmm. The way elisp "optional arguments" work, you can't distinguish
between (menu-bar-mode nil) and (menu-bar-mode), and both are
equivalent to "M-x menu-bar-mode" which a user might actually type.
scroll-bar-mode works the same way -- no arg (or nil) means *toggle*,
positive arg means turn on, negative arg means turn off.
(auto-compression-mode is another example)

In earlier releases, I vaguely recall that (menu-bar-mode) from the
user's .emacs file worked, but I don't have an older version of emacs
handy for comparison or to identify the change.