Let C-h f do autoloading, and report if a function was previously autoloaded.

* lisp/help-fns.el (help-fns--autoloaded-p): New function.
(describe-function-1): Refer to a function as "autoloaded" if it
was autoloaded at any time in the past.  Perform autoloading if
help-enable-auto-load is non-nil.

* lisp/help.el (help-enable-auto-load): New variable.

* src/doc.c (Fsubstitute_command_keys): Fix punctuation.

1 files changed, 12 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS
index 585a91decab..e804805c8d0 100644
--- a/etc/NEWS
+++ b/etc/NEWS
@@ -64,6 +64,18 @@ been adding them there, put them somewhere else, eg site-lisp.
 
 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
 
+** Help changes
+
+*** `C-h f' (describe-function) can now perform autoloading.
+When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
+contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
+automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
+correctly.  To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
+
+*** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
+even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
+autoloads have been redefined as functions).
+
 ** The function `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC) that use picosecond resolution; the PSEC
 component is new.  PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current