;;; Add the following to your .emacs
;;; (desktop-load-default)
;;; (desktop-read)
;;;
(setq desktop-globals-to-save
  (list 'desktop-missing-file-warning
	;; Feature: saving kill-ring implies saving kill-ring-yank-pointer
	;; 'kill-ring
	'tags-file-name
	'tags-table-list
	'search-ring
	'regexp-search-ring
	'register-alist
	;; 'desktop-globals-to-save	; Itself!
	))

;;; Save some additional variables
(mapcar
 (lambda (sym) (add-to-list 'desktop-globals-to-save sym))
 '(
   coding-system-history
   command-history
   compile-history
   file-name-history
   grep-find-history
   grep-history
   input-method-history
   minibuffer-history
   query-replace-history
   set-variable-value-history
   shell-command-history
   ))
;;; auto-truncate to this length
(set 'desktop-truncate-length 10)

(defun desktop-truncate-vars nil
  (mapcar 
   (lambda (sym) 
     (condition-case var
         (desktop-truncate (eval sym) desktop-truncate-length)
       (error nil)))
    desktop-globals-to-save))

(add-hook 'desktop-save-hook 'desktop-truncate-vars)