From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Uday S Reddy Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Key bindings proposal Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2010 12:58:07 +0100 Message-ID: <19542.45775.52000.606047@gargle.gargle.HOWL> References: <19534.1494.627000.357123@gargle.gargle.HOWL> <19537.40472.267000.563053@gargle.gargle.HOWL> <19542.42188.177000.850266@gargle.gargle.HOWL> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1280750324 31362 80.91.229.12 (2 Aug 2010 11:58:44 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2010 11:58:44 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Uday S Reddy , emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Stuart Hacking Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Aug 02 13:58:41 2010 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Oftf8-0003Cg-AB for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:58:36 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:59053 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Oftf4-0002RO-3j for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 02 Aug 2010 07:58:30 -0400 Original-Received: from [140.186.70.92] (port=39663 helo=eggs.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Oftey-0002Qe-IK for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 02 Aug 2010 07:58:25 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Oftex-0006KZ-8a for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 02 Aug 2010 07:58:24 -0400 Original-Received: from sun60.bham.ac.uk ([147.188.128.137]:42320) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Oftex-0006Jr-3p for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 02 Aug 2010 07:58:23 -0400 Original-Received: from [147.188.128.127] (helo=bham.ac.uk) by sun60.bham.ac.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.67) (envelope-from ) id 1Oftev-0002iY-Mc; Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:58:21 +0100 Original-Received: from mx1.cs.bham.ac.uk ([147.188.192.53]) by bham.ac.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Ofteu-0000K1-Fx; Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:58:20 +0100 Original-Received: from gromit.cs.bham.ac.uk ([147.188.193.16] helo=MARUTI.cs.bham.ac.uk) by mx1.cs.bham.ac.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.51) id 1Ofteu-0008AZ-R6; Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:58:20 +0100 In-Reply-To: X-Mailer: VM 8.1.92a under 23.2.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Solaris 10 (beta) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:128104 Archived-At: Stuart Hacking writes: > Emacs has a set of default keybindings which can be modified to suit > the taste of the user. Where is the issue here? (Some software that I > use will not let me redefine key bindings at all.) > > Is the solution to distribute a version of emacs with no keybindings set? :) Ok, so, you don't believe in the software-as-the-enemy principle? Sorry for attributing it to you. If I were to use your scheme to set up Emacs in the flexible way, I would need to define an entire range of generic aliases like you did for "isearch" in your message. Then I need to overwrite pretty much *all* the key bindings that the modes do with my own bindings so that the keys are bound to these generic aliases. Such an idea wouldn't have occured to me normally, because I really imagine the software to be a friend. So, if it doesn't help me, I would get annoyed instead of thinkings of ways to defeat it. But the latter can work too, as you have demonstrated. Do I want to distribute emacs with no key bindings at all? No, not at all. All I am saying is that Emacs, which calls itself the "customizable extensible editor," should accommodate the users that like its way of doing things as well as the users who want to do things differently. Making life a peach for the followers but really difficult for the dissenters doesn't quite fit the bill. Cheers, Uday