Meta key, Alt key & ESC

[Bertram Scharpf <b.scharpf@tesionmail.de>]

Hi,

sorry, I could not find a documentation about this problem.

Under Debian/GNU Linux my Emacs Meta key is the one
between `Control_L' and `Alt_L'. But from SuSE
Linux I am used `Alt_L' to be the Meta key. Now I don't
want to change my Debian `.Xmodmap'; rather I want Emacs
to accept the `Alt_L' in one of the following manners:


A.

I examine my keystrokes using the command "C-h k"
(`descibe-key'). Typing

    C-h k <Alt>-a

      yields in                            under
      ---------                            -----
      "M-a runs the command ...."          SuSE
      "A-a is undefined"                   Debian/GNU

But I get

    $ xmodmap -pm | grep mod1
    mod1        Alt_L (0x40)
    $

in both cases!

So there must be a way to tell Emacs which modifier is the
Meta Key. How do I tell?


B.

My `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/XTerm' contains
something like

--------------------------------------
XTerm*VT100.Translations: #override \
   Alt<KeyPress>Shift_L,Alt<KeyPress>: string(0x01B) insert() \n\
   Alt<KeyPress>Shift_R,Alt<KeyPress>: string(0x01B) insert() \n\
   Alt Ctrl <KeyPress>: string(0x01B) insert() \n\
   Alt      <KeyPress>: string(0x01B) insert()
--------------------------------------

(I didn't find a documentation about that either.)

Running Emacs in an XTerm as "emacs -nw" I get the following
results:

    Typing                           yields in
    C-h k <Meta>-a                   "M-a runs the command ...."
    C-h k ESC a                      "ESC a runs the command ...."
    C-h k <Alt>-a                    "ESC a runs the command ...."

but in the X-windowed Emacs still:

    C-h k <Alt>-a                    "A-a is undefined"

Is there a way letting Emacs take an <Alt> as an ESC-prefix
as XTerm does?

Thank you very much in advance for your answers.

Bertram

-- 
Bertram Scharpf
Stuttgart, Deutschland/Germany