Re: Bikeshedding go! Why is <M-f4> unbound?

[Deniz Dogan <deniz.a.m.dogan@gmail.com>]

2011/1/12 Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>:
>> I'm neither for nor against this proposal anymore, but I'd like it if
>> we keep the discussion going, so here are my thoughts.
>
> I don't really know what's the proposal anyway, so if someone can make
> it clear, and with a clear justification, that would be helpful.
>

The proposal was to bind M-f4 to save-buffers-kill-terminal or a
similar function on Windows installations only.

>> 1. But there is a point to it! I may be wrong, but isn't M-f4 what
>> most desktop environments, e.g. KDE and Gnome, use to close a window
>> by default?
>
> That's irrelevant: these bindings come from the UI environment (the
> window-manager) and work regardless of what Emacs does (they send
> a `delete' X11 event, IIRC, which Emacs handles properly by closing the
> corresponding frame).
> I.e. these bindings already work right in Gnome and KDE, without having
> to bind M-f4 to anything inside Emacs.
>

Right, but M-f4 doesn't "work" in Windows for a reason that is beyond
me, but which some people on here seem to understand.

>> 4. No one is saying we should bind M-f4 because it is unused. It's
>> just that it could have a very useful default binding for Windows
>> users which just happens to be unused today.
>
> Is M-f4 a standard binding in Windows, as it is in Gnome and KDE?
> Does it normally do the same as in Gnome/KDE?
> Does Emacs handle it correctly already by virtue of the key-binding
> being caught before it is passed on to Emacs's usual key handling, just
> as it happens in X11?
>

M-f4 is a standard keybinding in Windows and it normally does the same
thing as it does in Gnome and KDE, which is close the active window or
exit the current application. The problem is that when I hit M-f4 in
*Emacs* running on Windows, Emacs says that the key is undefined and
that's the end of that.

This is where the idea of binding M-f4 in Emacs came up. Whether it's
a good one or a bad one, I don't know...

-- 
Deniz Dogan