<Multi_key> does not work anymore

<Multi_key> does not work anymore

[Cecil Westerhof]

In my .xmodmap I have:
    keycode 135       = Multi_key

With this I could always use the menu-key followed by two spaces to
get a non-break space. In other programs it still works like this, but
in Emacs I get now:
    <Multi_key> is undefined

What is happening here?

-- 
Cecil Westerhof
Senior Software Engineer
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilwesterhof

Re: <Multi_key> does not work anymore

[Cecil Westerhof]

Op Thursday 5 Mar 2015 22:06 CET schreef Cecil Westerhof:

> In my .xmodmap I have:
> keycode 135       = Multi_key
>
> With this I could always use the menu-key followed by two spaces to
> get a non-break space. In other programs it still works like this,
> but in Emacs I get now: <Multi_key> is undefined
>
> What is happening here?

The interesting bid is that in Emacs with root it still works.

-- 
Cecil Westerhof
Senior Software Engineer
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilwesterhof

Re: <Multi_key> does not work anymore

[Emanuel Berg]

Cecil Westerhof <Cecil@decebal.nl> writes:

>> In my .xmodmap I have: keycode 135 = Multi_key With
>> this I could always use the menu-key followed by
>> two spaces to get a non-break space. In other
>> programs it still works like this, but in Emacs I
>> get now: <Multi_key> is undefined What is happening
>> here?
>
> The interesting bid is that in Emacs with root it
> still works.

Did you modify the keymap for the root user as well?

If Emacs says "<Multi_key> is undefined" then it
should be easy enough to solve this, just define
(bind) it to do whatever you want. If you want it to
be a key sequence probably you need to make it a
"prefix key" as well, as in:

    ; step 1 - name
    (define-prefix-command    'C-o-prefix)

    ; step 2 - bind
    (global-set-key "\C-o"    'C-o-prefix)

    ; step 3 - normal usage as you would any key
    (global-set-key "\C-\M-j" 'scroll-left-1)
    ; ...

-- 
underground experts united

Re: <Multi_key> does not work anymore

[Cecil Westerhof]

Op Friday 6 Mar 2015 01:02 CET schreef Emanuel Berg:

> Cecil Westerhof <Cecil@decebal.nl> writes:
>
>>> In my .xmodmap I have: keycode 135 = Multi_key With
>>> this I could always use the menu-key followed by
>>> two spaces to get a non-break space. In other
>>> programs it still works like this, but in Emacs I
>>> get now: <Multi_key> is undefined What is happening
>>> here?
>>
>> The interesting bid is that in Emacs with root it
>> still works.
>
> Did you modify the keymap for the root user as well?
>
> If Emacs says "<Multi_key> is undefined" then it
> should be easy enough to solve this, just define
> (bind) it to do whatever you want. If you want it to
> be a key sequence probably you need to make it a
> "prefix key" as well, as in:
>
> ; step 1 - name
> (define-prefix-command    'C-o-prefix)
>
> ; step 2 - bind
> (global-set-key "\C-o"    'C-o-prefix)
>
> ; step 3 - normal usage as you would any key
> (global-set-key "\C-\M-j" 'scroll-left-1)
> ; ...

It has nothing to do with Emacs: it is done with xmodmap, so it is an
X binding not an Emacs binding. This is something I defined years ago
(globally, so for normal user and root user) and always worked. I did
not change anything in .xnodmap or in .emacs. So this should not be
happening, but it is.

-- 
Cecil Westerhof
Senior Software Engineer
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilwesterhof

Re: <Multi_key> does not work anymore

[Rusi]

On Friday, March 6, 2015 at 11:36:03 AM UTC+5:30, Cecil Westerhof wrote:
> Op Friday 6 Mar 2015 01:02 CET schreef Emanuel Berg:
> 
> > Cecil Westerhof  writes:
> >
> >>> In my .xmodmap I have: keycode 135 = Multi_key With
> >>> this I could always use the menu-key followed by
> >>> two spaces to get a non-break space. In other
> >>> programs it still works like this, but in Emacs I
> >>> get now: <Multi_key> is undefined What is happening
> >>> here?
> >>
> >> The interesting bid is that in Emacs with root it
> >> still works.
> >
> > Did you modify the keymap for the root user as well?
> >
> > If Emacs says "<Multi_key> is undefined" then it
> > should be easy enough to solve this, just define
> > (bind) it to do whatever you want. If you want it to
> > be a key sequence probably you need to make it a
> > "prefix key" as well, as in:
> >
> > ; step 1 - name
> > (define-prefix-command    'C-o-prefix)
> >
> > ; step 2 - bind
> > (global-set-key "\C-o"    'C-o-prefix)
> >
> > ; step 3 - normal usage as you would any key
> > (global-set-key "\C-\M-j" 'scroll-left-1)
> > ; ...
> 
> It has nothing to do with Emacs: it is done with xmodmap, so it is an
> X binding not an Emacs binding. This is something I defined years ago
> (globally, so for normal user and root user) and always worked. I did
> not change anything in .xnodmap or in .emacs. So this should not be
> happening, but it is.


Specific:

May be related to this issue
See thread https://groups.google.com/d/msg/gnu.emacs.help/hBA42H2chGM/2Xfa1ce2LlMJ

More generic:
Xmodmap is considered obsolete and increasingly more borked.
In 2015 you are supposed to use setxkbmap¹
$ setxkbmap -query
will tell you current state
$ setxkbmap -option compose:menu
will give you what you want

¹ I did not say its better; just not obsolete like xmodmap

Re: <Multi_key> does not work anymore

[Cecil Westerhof]

Op Friday 6 Mar 2015 10:33 CET schreef Rusi:

> On Friday, March 6, 2015 at 11:36:03 AM UTC+5:30, Cecil Westerhof wrote:
>> Op Friday 6 Mar 2015 01:02 CET schreef Emanuel Berg:
>>
>>> Cecil Westerhof  writes:
>>>
>>>>> In my .xmodmap I have: keycode 135 = Multi_key With
>>>>> this I could always use the menu-key followed by
>>>>> two spaces to get a non-break space. In other
>>>>> programs it still works like this, but in Emacs I
>>>>> get now: <Multi_key> is undefined What is happening
>>>>> here?
>>>>
>>>> The interesting bid is that in Emacs with root it
>>>> still works.
>>>
>>> Did you modify the keymap for the root user as well?
>>>
>>> If Emacs says "<Multi_key> is undefined" then it
>>> should be easy enough to solve this, just define
>>> (bind) it to do whatever you want. If you want it to
>>> be a key sequence probably you need to make it a
>>> "prefix key" as well, as in:
>>>
>>> ; step 1 - name
>>> (define-prefix-command    'C-o-prefix)
>>>
>>> ; step 2 - bind
>>> (global-set-key "\C-o"    'C-o-prefix)
>>>
>>> ; step 3 - normal usage as you would any key
>>> (global-set-key "\C-\M-j" 'scroll-left-1)
>>> ; ...
>>
>> It has nothing to do with Emacs: it is done with xmodmap, so it is
>> an X binding not an Emacs binding. This is something I defined
>> years ago (globally, so for normal user and root user) and always
>> worked. I did not change anything in .xnodmap or in .emacs. So this
>> should not be happening, but it is.
>
>
> Specific:
>
> May be related to this issue See thread
> https://groups.google.com/d/msg/gnu.emacs.help/hBA42H2chGM/2Xfa1ce2LlMJ

That solved the problem (I think, because in the thread is said it
works sometimes). But two things:
- It started happening when I upgrade my Linux version.
- For root (where I do not have this problem) XMODIFIERS is not
  defined.

So I now use:
    /usr/bin/env -u XMODIFIERS /usr/bin/emacs 

-- 
Cecil Westerhof
Senior Software Engineer
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilwesterhof

Re: <Multi_key> does not work anymore

[Emanuel Berg]

Cecil Westerhof <Cecil@decebal.nl> writes:

>> If Emacs says "<Multi_key> is undefined" then it
>> should be easy enough to solve this, just define
>> (bind) it to do whatever you want. If you want it
>> to be a key sequence probably you need to make it a
>> "prefix key" as well, as in: ; step 1 - name
>> (define-prefix-command 'C-o-prefix) ; step 2 - bind
>> (global-set-key "\C-o" 'C-o-prefix) ; step 3 -
>> normal usage as you would any key (global-set-key
>> "\C-\M-j" 'scroll-left-1) ; ...
>
> It has nothing to do with Emacs: it is done with
> xmodmap, so it is an X binding not an Emacs binding.
> This is something I defined years ago (globally, so
> for normal user and root user) and always worked. I
> did not change anything in .xnodmap or in .emacs. So
> this should not be happening, but it is.

If you press a key and Emacs says it is undefined that
means Emacs recognizes a key has been pressed and it
recognizes the key. That key sounds like it has a
special purpose in X, so you might still run into
problems, but why not just try bind it to whatever
functionality you wish for it?

-- 
underground experts united

Re: <Multi_key> does not work anymore

[Cecil Westerhof]

Op Saturday 7 Mar 2015 16:56 CET schreef Emanuel Berg:

> Cecil Westerhof <Cecil@decebal.nl> writes:
>
>>> If Emacs says "<Multi_key> is undefined" then it
>>> should be easy enough to solve this, just define
>>> (bind) it to do whatever you want. If you want it
>>> to be a key sequence probably you need to make it a
>>> "prefix key" as well, as in: ; step 1 - name
>>> (define-prefix-command 'C-o-prefix) ; step 2 - bind
>>> (global-set-key "\C-o" 'C-o-prefix) ; step 3 -
>>> normal usage as you would any key (global-set-key
>>> "\C-\M-j" 'scroll-left-1) ; ...
>>
>> It has nothing to do with Emacs: it is done with
>> xmodmap, so it is an X binding not an Emacs binding.
>> This is something I defined years ago (globally, so
>> for normal user and root user) and always worked. I
>> did not change anything in .xnodmap or in .emacs. So
>> this should not be happening, but it is.
>
> If you press a key and Emacs says it is undefined that
> means Emacs recognizes a key has been pressed and it
> recognizes the key. That key sounds like it has a
> special purpose in X, so you might still run into
> problems, but why not just try bind it to whatever
> functionality you wish for it?

Because <Multi_key> is the start of a very big range of conversion. I
would not want to define them all by hand.

Problem is (probably) solved with:
    /usr/bin/env -u XMODIFIERS /usr/bin/emacs 

-- 
Cecil Westerhof
Senior Software Engineer
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilwesterhof

Re: <Multi_key> does not work anymore

[Emanuel Berg]

Cecil Westerhof <Cecil@decebal.nl> writes:

> Because <Multi_key> is the start of a very big range
> of conversion. I would not want to define them all
> by hand.

Why not? :)

> Problem is (probably) solved with: /usr/bin/env -u
> XMODIFIERS /usr/bin/emacs

Probably a good idea is to write a mail to the people
maintaining the software which you upgraded if they
are unaware of this side-effect.

-- 
underground experts united