Re: Issues with X selection handling

[Jan D.]

Davis Herring wrote:
> [Emacs version: 21.3.1 of May 22 2003, although I see few relevant 
> changes in CVS]
> I have been experimenting with different semantics for handling X 
> selections (particularly `PRIMARY'), and have run across several snags in 
> the x-*-selection-* functions and hooks:
>
>  + `x-disown-selection-internal' doesn't seem to do anything.

Well, it disowns the selection, but it does not call any hooks if that is what
you mean.  Can you please say what you expected it to do?

>  + `x-lost-selection-hooks' is not always executed when one would expect:
>   - using the mouse to select text in Emacs and then elsewhere seems to 
> never call the hooks

I have not been able to reproduce this with the CVS version or 21.3.
The lost and send hooks are always called, for PRIMARY and CLIPBOARD.
Can you test the CVS version?

>   - losing the clipboard usually (but not always) calls the hooks
>   - explicitly owning a selection with M-: (x-own-selection-internal
> 'PRIMARY "foo") seems to cause the hooks to be called (later)
>   - killing text with the keyboard also seems to guarantee hooks
>  + Occasionally, Emacs itself (i.e. xselect.c) seems to miss a
> notification that it has lost the selection -- I have, once, seen Emacs
> insist that it owns the clipboard selection despite the fact that other
> applications are owning and using it.

We really need a solid test case that always fails to be able to find any bug
in this area.

        Jan D.