- Enabling or disabling some minor modes applies only to the current
-buffer; each buffer is independent of the other buffers. Therefore, you
-can enable the mode in particular buffers and disable it in others. The
-per-buffer minor modes include Abbrev mode, Auto Fill mode, Auto Save
-mode, Font-Lock mode, ISO Accents mode, Outline minor
-mode, Overwrite mode, and Binary Overwrite mode.
+ Some minor modes are global: while enabled, they affect everything
+you do in the Emacs session, in all buffers. Other minor modes are
+buffer-local; they apply only to the current buffer, so you can enable
+the mode in certain buffers and not others.
+
+ For most minor modes, the command name is also the name of a
+variable which directly controls the mode. The mode is enabled
+whenever this variable's value is non-@code{nil}, and the minor-mode
+command works by setting the variable. For example, the command
+@code{outline-minor-mode} works by setting the value of
+@code{outline-minor-mode} as a variable; it is this variable that
+directly turns Outline minor mode on and off. To check whether a
+given minor mode works this way, use @kbd{C-h v} to ask for
+documentation on the variable name.
+
+ These minor-mode variables provide a good way for Lisp programs to turn
+minor modes on and off; they are also useful in a file's local variables
+list. But please think twice before setting minor modes with a local
+variables list, because most minor modes are matter of user
+preference---other users editing the same file might not want the same
+minor modes you prefer.
+
+ The buffer-local minor modes include Abbrev mode, Auto Fill mode,
+Auto Save mode, Font-Lock mode, Glasses mode, ISO Accents mode,
+Outline minor mode, Overwrite mode, and Binary Overwrite mode.