bug#17983: 24.4.50; digit keys in *Messages* unhelpful, hang Emacs, etc.

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2014 19:35:05 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> 
> C-q 7
> 
> Nothing.  Nada.
> 
> C-q 7 C-q 7 C-q 7.  You see ^G inserted each time (except the first)
> that you hit C-q (not when you hit 7), because 7 acts as a prefix arg
> for the following ^Q.  Wunderbar.  A feature, no doubt.

As Glenn points out, this is normal (and very old) behavior of C-q,
which is well documented.

> C-q 7 7 7.  Now Emacs is hosed - in Neverneverland.  ESC ESC ESC no
> good; C-g no good.  No mouse, no keys, nada.  And no CPU use.  Just
> hosed.

Not here, it isn't.  After "C-q 7 7 7", any key gets something
inserted, and there's no hang.  None.

> Regardless of whether it freezes each time, if you hit C-q and then
> 7 one or more times there is no feedback - already a no-no (bug).

That's indeed a bug, worthy of a separate bug report.

But everything else you describe isn't, or is not reproducible here.

> C-q should simply quote the 7, as it should quote other characters you
> type (including ^U, BTW).

No, numeric characters after C-q behave specially.