# HG changeset patch # User Richard M. Stallman # Date 1107688665 0 # Node ID e0bfdf4778154cf60d909380fa63d9977157d4ac # Parent 7c5b107612a028e12404187f505ec9399943bd4a (Entering Emacs): Update rationale at start. (Exiting): Treat iconifying on a par with suspension. diff -r 7c5b107612a0 -r e0bfdf477815 man/entering.texi --- a/man/entering.texi Sun Feb 06 11:16:21 2005 +0000 +++ b/man/entering.texi Sun Feb 06 11:17:45 2005 +0000 @@ -40,11 +40,11 @@ command-line argument to say which file to edit. But starting a new Emacs each time you want to edit a different file -does not make sense. For one thing, this would be annoyingly slow. -For another, this would fail to take advantage of Emacs's ability to -visit more than one file in a single editing session. And it would -lose the other accumulated context, such as the kill ring, registers, -undo history, and mark ring. +does not make sense. This would fail to take advantage of Emacs's +ability to visit more than one file in a single editing session, and +it would lose the other accumulated context, such as the kill ring, +registers, undo history, and mark ring, that are useful for operating +on multiple files. The recommended way to use GNU Emacs is to start it only once, just after you log in, and do all your editing in the same Emacs session. @@ -71,13 +71,19 @@ @cindex leaving Emacs @cindex quitting Emacs - There are two commands for exiting Emacs because there are two kinds -of exiting: @dfn{suspending} Emacs and @dfn{killing} Emacs. + There are two commands for exiting Emacs because there are three +kinds of exiting: @dfn{suspending} Emacs, @dfn{Iconifying} Emacs, and +@dfn{killing} Emacs. @dfn{Suspending} means stopping Emacs temporarily and returning control to its parent process (usually a shell), allowing you to resume editing later in the same Emacs job, with the same buffers, same kill -ring, same undo history, and so on. This is the usual way to exit. +ring, same undo history, and so on. This is the usual way to exit Emacs +when running on a text terminal. + + @dfn{Iconifying} means replacing the Emacs frame with a small box +somewhere on the screen. This is the usual way to exit Emacs when you're +using a graphics terminal. @dfn{Killing} Emacs means destroying the Emacs job. You can run Emacs again later, but you will get a fresh Emacs; there is no way to resume @@ -93,31 +99,33 @@ @kindex C-z @findex suspend-emacs - To suspend Emacs, type @kbd{C-z} (@code{suspend-emacs}). This takes -you back to the shell from which you invoked Emacs. You can resume -Emacs with the shell command @command{%emacs} in most common shells. + To suspend or iconify Emacs, type @kbd{C-z} (@code{suspend-emacs}). +On text terminals, this suspends Emacs. On graphics terminals, +it iconifies the Emacs frame. - On systems that do not support suspending programs, @kbd{C-z} starts -an inferior shell that communicates directly with the terminal. -Emacs waits until you exit the subshell. (The way to do that is -probably with @kbd{C-d} or @command{exit}, but it depends on which shell -you use.) The only way on these systems to get back to the shell from -which Emacs was run (to log out, for example) is to kill Emacs. + Suspending Emacs takes you back to the shell from which you invoked +Emacs. You can resume Emacs with the shell command @command{%emacs} +in most common shells. On systems that don't support suspending +programs, @kbd{C-z} starts an inferior shell that communicates +directly with the terminal. Emacs waits until you exit the subshell. +(The way to do that is probably with @kbd{C-d} or @command{exit}, but +it depends on which shell you use.) The only way on these systems to +get back to the shell from which Emacs was run (to log out, for +example) is to kill Emacs. - Suspending also fails if you run Emacs under a shell that doesn't -support suspending programs, even if the system itself does support it. -In such a case, you can set the variable @code{cannot-suspend} to a -non-@code{nil} value to force @kbd{C-z} to start an inferior shell. + Suspending can fail if you run Emacs under a shell that doesn't +support suspending programs, even if the system itself does support +it. In such a case, you can set the variable @code{cannot-suspend} to +a non-@code{nil} value to force @kbd{C-z} to start an inferior shell. (One might also describe Emacs's parent shell as ``inferior'' for -failing to support job control properly, but that is a matter of taste.) +failing to support job control properly, but that is a matter of +taste.) - When Emacs communicates directly with an X server and creates its own -dedicated X windows, @kbd{C-z} has a different meaning. Suspending an -application that uses its own X windows is not meaningful or useful. -Instead, @kbd{C-z} runs the command @code{iconify-or-deiconify-frame}, -which temporarily iconifies (or ``minimizes'') the selected Emacs -frame (@pxref{Frames}). Then you can use the window manager to get -back to a shell window. + On graphics terminals, @kbd{C-z} has a different meaning: it runs +the command @code{iconify-or-deiconify-frame}, which temporarily +iconifies (or ``minimizes'') the selected Emacs frame +(@pxref{Frames}). Then you can use the window manager to get back to +a shell window. @kindex C-x C-c @findex save-buffers-kill-emacs