Re: Physical keyboard events

[Cecilio Pardo <cpardo@imayhem.com>]

On 04/11/2024 10:35, Po Lu wrote:
>> This is about keys, not modifiers. For the use case of binding
>> commands to keys, this remapping would be counterproductive. I can
>> provide a function to make that conversion if needed.
> 
> I must disagree.  When Emacs has enough information to decide which
> modifiers are produced by physical keys it receives, as it does here, it
> should not confuse Lisp programmers with a view of the keyboard state
> that runs contrary to their expectations, not to mention that the
> disparity between X keysyms and X modifiers is very great, and users who
> swap the positions of the Shift and Ctrl modifiers will not expect to
> receive raw keyboard events which disregard their keyboard
> configuration.
> 
> BTW, if the intention is to forward just modifier key events to Lisp,
> don't let's refer to them as "physical keyboard events", but in more
> specific terms.

The intention right now is just to allow users to bind actions to
multiple taps on shift, control and alt keys. Using these keys and not
others is just because these keys don't normally do anything when
pressed alone, not because they are modifiers. If an users'
customization or his input method(s) makes this unconvenient or
impossible, then this is not for that user, and should not use it.

Lisp programmers will not have to deal with these events unless they are
looking for them by binding in special-event-map, and replacing the
function that looks for multiple taps with something else.

Is this feature worth the changes I propose. For me it is.

I agree 'physical keyboard events' is an unfortunate phrase.