bug#30978: 25.3; Suggestion: define-minor-mode should define mode-lighter variable

[Phil Sainty]

On 2021-06-26 02:27, Lars Ingebrigtsen wrote:
> Does anybody else have an opinion here?  The suggestion is to make
> define-minor-mode define a `foo-mode-lighter' variable that users can
> then change to easily change the lighters.

It sounds like a good change.

> Or do we have a separate mechanism for this somewhere?

We do in GNU ELPA (see https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/DelightedModes
regarding the one I wrote, delight.el), but that and similar libraries
mostly exist because there wasn't something as trivial as a variable
to set.

Delight also takes care of synchronising the label in `mode-line-menu'
(down-mouse-3 on `mode-line-modes'), as well as allowing custom names
for major modes via the same UI -- but providing an easy way to set
minor mode lighters was the actual reason for writing it.


-Phil