@noindent
@cindex @code{fn} in function's documentation string
-The backslash and newline immediately following the double-quote are a
-convention used only in the preloaded uncompiled Lisp files such as
-@file{loaddefs.el}; they tell @code{make-docfile} to put the
-documentation string in the @file{etc/DOC} file. @xref{Building Emacs}.
-See also the commentary in @file{lib-src/make-docfile.c}. @samp{(fn)}
-in the usage part of the documentation string is replaced with the
-function's name when the various help functions (@pxref{Help
-Functions}) display it.
+While the @file{loaddefs.el} isn't for editing, we try to keep it
+somewhat readable for people. For instance, control characters in
+@code{defvar} values are escaped, and we insert a backslash and
+newline immediately following the double-quote of the doc string to
+keep the line length down. @samp{(fn)} in the usage part of the
+documentation string is replaced with the function's name when the
+various help functions (@pxref{Help Functions}) display it.
If you write a function definition with an unusual macro that is not
one of the known and recognized function definition methods, use of an
;; If you add a file to be loaded here, keep the following points in mind:
;; i) If the file is no-byte-compile, explicitly load the .el version.
-;; Such files should (where possible) obey the doc-string conventions
-;; expected by make-docfile. They should also be added to the
-;; uncompiled[] list in make-docfile.c.
;; ii) If the file is dumped with Emacs (on any platform), put the
;; load statement at the start of a line (leading whitespace is ok).
;; iii) If the file is _not_ dumped with Emacs, make sure the load
;; statement is _not_ at the start of a line. See pcase for an example.
-;; These rules are so that src/Makefile can construct lisp.mk automatically.
-;; This ensures both that the Lisp files are compiled (if necessary)
-;; before the emacs executable is dumped, and that they are passed to
-;; make-docfile. (Any that are not processed for DOC will not have
-;; doc strings in the dumped Emacs.)
+;; These rules are so that src/Makefile can construct lisp.mk
+;; automatically. This ensures that the Lisp files are compiled (if
+;; necessary) before the emacs executable is dumped.
;;; Code: