Re: delete-selection-mode

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

I wrote

    > Is this true even when the region has been activated by keyboard commands?
    > If so, perhaps it is a bug.  Perhaps the feature should only apply when
    > you make the region using the mouse.

You replied

    I think it would be a very bad idea to introduce an invisible state
    this way. (I agree with Klaus here - if I do not misunderstand him.)

This distinction already exists.  Now that I've been reminded of it, I
recall why I implemented it.

Making DEL delete the whole region after a mouse selection did not
affect experienced Emacs users, who edit mainly with the keyboard.  So
I saw no reason not to do this by default.

Making DEL delete the region whenever it is active would be an
incompatible change for us, so I rejected it as a default.

Some have claimed here that such an "invisible" distinction would be
intolerable, but let's check the facts.  Have there been any
complaints about it?  Would someone like to check the bug tracker?

Extending the region-deletion behavior to cover self-insertion as well
as DEL is a natural change.  Extending it to shift-arrow selection
makes sense too.  These can increase effective compatibility because
the whole editing scenario (select a region and then operate on it) is
compatible between Emacs and the other relevant programs.

In addition, neither of those two changes will affect experiencd Emacs
users.  There is no practical argument against those changes.

The case that could very well be painful to change is that of marking
the region with the traditional Emacs editing commands.  In addition,
that change would give no effective increase in compatibility with
other programs, because these Emacs commands are totally incompatible
with those programs.

We should not break most every user's editing habits for a partial
compatibility which is too partial to be of real use.  Such a change
could lead to a rebellion of the users.

However, there remains the question of whether enabling
delete-selection-mode would really break our habits.  Will it really
bother experienced users like me?

How about if we find out empirically.

I have enabled delete-selection-mode, and I will try editing with it.
I'll see if it is a real pain or not.  I suggest that others also try
turning it on.  Then we will know whether it is a real pain in the
neck, rather than arguing theoretically that it is or isn't.