Re: Selection changes in revno 100822

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Chong Yidong <cyd@stupidchicken.com>
> Cc: David De La Harpe Golden <david@harpegolden.net>, jan.h.d@swipnet.se,
>         emacs-devel@gnu.org
> Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 17:52:22 -0400
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> > May I suggest to step back and post a clear set of requirements for
> > when Emacs should and shouldn't put selected text into the primary
> > selection and into the clipboard?  Forget the w32 case for now; let's
> > just spell out the requirements for X.
> 
> Here is a summary of the current scheme:
> 
>   1. Each time the mark is deactivated, the selected text is added to
>   the primary selection.  If deactivation occurs as a result of a buffer
>   modification, the text that is added is the text in the region prior
>   to the modification.
> 
>   2. If the region is temporarily active after a command (e.g. after a
>   mouse drag or shift selection), the selected text is added to the
>   primary selection, even if the mark is not deactivated.
> 
>   3. If you deactivate the mark with C-g, the selected text is not added
>   to the primary selection.

This is not the level on which I wanted to discuss this.  You are
describing the behavior in terms of deactivating the mark, which is an
implementation detail.  I'm sure you have a very clear idea when the
mark gets deactivated, but my idea about that is somewhat vague, and
I'm quite sure many users have no idea at all about that.

From the user's perspective, there are several ways of selecting text:
with C-SPS (with or without transient-mark-mode), with
shift-selection, and with the mouse.  Let's talk on this level: which
methods should set the primary and which shouldn't, and why?