Re: Annoying kill-ring behavior

[Smith_RS <rsmithpv@gmail.com>]

On Monday, March 31, 2014 3:45:37 PM UTC-7, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> I remember fixing this kind of bug, so it might depend on which version
> of Emacs you're using.

Thanks. I first saw this under 24.3.1 build under Windows.

I went back and re-traced my steps. Back when I first started with 24.x I had the cut/paste problem as described here:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13036155/how-to-to-combine-emacs-primary-clipboard-copy-and-paste-behavior-on-ms-windows

So I added this to my .emacs, without *really* understanding how it was changing my default behavior:

(when (equal window-system 'w32)
  (setq select-active-regions nil)
  (setq mouse-drag-copy-region t)
  (global-set-key [mouse-2] 'mouse-yank-at-click))

If you execute these three lines and try my scenario as posted above, you should be able to duplicate the issue.

Since I move a lot between Linux and Windows (multiple times during my work day, and I use Git to keep my files straight) I'm keen on techniques that give me consistent cut/paste semantics. But I'm also at a point in my understanding of Emacs that I know the primary selection and the kill-ring are two different things. This commonly-suggested workaround for Windows users created confusion for me.

But it's not a Windows-specific bug, if you C-x C-e on this code:

(progn
  (setq select-active-regions nil)
  (setq mouse-drag-copy-region t)
  (global-set-key [mouse-2] 'mouse-yank-at-click))

And then do the mouse-1-micro-drag that I described earlier, you will see the zero-length entries in the kill-ring, on Windows and Linux.

For me personally, I'm probably going to turn off this "just use the kill ring all the time" behavior until I figure out what the best way to move forward is. It seems like it's one of those things you tell newbies to do so they'll leave you alone.