bug#65326: Alt-x prefix does not work on NetBSD/OpenBSD console

bug#65326: Alt-x prefix does not work on NetBSD/OpenBSD console

[Bruno Haible]

With Emacs I'm used to type M-x as Alt-x (left Alt key). But this does not
work in the NetBSD 9.3 console and the OpenBSD 7.2 console. As a result, I
have to use ESC-x instead, which breaks a convenient habit.

How to reproduce:

1. Log in at the NetBSD or OpenBSD console.
   $TERM is wsvt25 on NetBSD, or vt220 on OpenBSD.

2. Edit some file:
$ src/emacs ~/hello.c
<Down>
<RET>
<M-x> (Alt-x) does not work as expected: It inserts a 'x'.

Bruno

bug#65326: Alt-x prefix does not work on NetBSD/OpenBSD console

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Bruno Haible <bruno@clisp.org>
> Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2023 00:20:20 +0200
> 
> With Emacs I'm used to type M-x as Alt-x (left Alt key). But this does not
> work in the NetBSD 9.3 console and the OpenBSD 7.2 console. As a result, I
> have to use ESC-x instead, which breaks a convenient habit.
> 
> How to reproduce:
> 
> 1. Log in at the NetBSD or OpenBSD console.
>    $TERM is wsvt25 on NetBSD, or vt220 on OpenBSD.

Emacs doesn't have support for those terminals in lisp/term/, so it
seems.  Can you spot which of the *.el files there is loaded when you
start Emacs?  Maybe adding a suitable file is all that's needed?

> 2. Edit some file:
> $ src/emacs ~/hello.c
> <Down>
> <RET>
> <M-x> (Alt-x) does not work as expected: It inserts a 'x'.

If the above doesn't help, I'm afraid someone who has access to those
platforms will need to look into this problem.

Last, but not least: please use "M-x report-emacs-bug" to report bugs,
as otherwise useful information collected by that command is missing
from your report.  I don't even know in which version of Emacs did you
see this, let alone the other aspects of the build.

Thanks.