RE: [External] : Re: Concern about new binding.

[Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

> Perhaps a better way to update the documented key
> binding conventions is to add the rule that packages
> should generally not create global key bindings.

As I mentioned earlier, my position on that is
that (1) we can document that it's generally a
good idea for 3rd-party code to only suggest
such bindings, and not actually create them,
but (2) there's no convention that 3rd-party
code should not or must not create such bindings.

What will happen, if we try a more draconian
convention, is that 3rd-party code will add
minor modes which wouldn't otherwise have
existed (i.e., created just to provide bindings).

And then we have the same potential problem, but
just playing out as competition between minor
modes that are active at the same time.

> Reserving keys for external packages won't solve
> the fundamental problem here: two external
> packages may still decide to use the same key
> bindings, causing similar conflicts for users
> that install both.

I agree.  Except that I don't consider that to be
the fundamental problem here.  And I don't even
think it is much of a potential problem, though
I recognize that it exists.

The fundamental problem here, IMO, is Emacs
itself grabbing more and more new default keys,
restricting the space of keys available for
3rd-party libraries.

Competition for keys among 3rd parties is much
less of a problem, I think.  When Emacs grabs a
key by default, no package wants to bind that
key - it's effectively lost to 3rd-party code.