Re: Xfree86 and the Meta key (+patch)

[Denis Barbier]

[I am not subscribed to this list and am browsing archives online;
as Message-ID is not available, I am sorry for breaking this thread]

Jan D. wrote:
> altwin:meta_win assignes Meta_L/R to the "Window"-keys (<LWIN> and
> <RWIN>,
> default is Super_L/Multi_Key) and Meta_L/R is added to Mod4 (Mod1 is
> Alt_L/R).
> 
> Previously Mod4 was Super_L on <LWIN>, and when altwin:meta_win was set
> Mod4 became Meta_L/R.
> 
> Now Mod4 is Super_L and Hyper_L on "fake" keys.  altwin:meta_win then
> just adds Meta_L/R, so Emacs sees Mod4 as Hyper-Super-Meta.

This can be shown by typing "C-h k" and then any combination with a
logo key, e.g. H-x displays "H-M-s-x is undefined".
Please note also that even with standard pc104 US configuration, logo
keys cannot be used for shortcuts because emacs believe that they
are bound to Hyper and Super.

> If there is no need for these fake keys (I am not sure what they do),
> you could set altwin:meta_win and then do
> 
> % xmodmap -e 'remove mod4 = Hyper_L' -e 'remove mod4 = Super_L'
> and get the same behaviour as previous X versions.

Since XFree86 4.3, major changes were introduced in XKB configuration
which are incompatible with emacs.  Our problem in Debian is that many
users complain about this incompatiblity, and we want to fix it so that
these users do not have to run xmodmap themselves.
A solution is to change modifier mappings in XKB files.  If you are
an XKB guru and are able to hack configuration files so that all
combinations of keymaps still work, please join us ;)
As shortcuts cannot work if a modifier is bound to different symbols,
another solution is to let emacs handle this case in a smarter way.
This is the purpose of the patch sent by Jerome; when a modifier is
bound to different symbols, only one is taken into account.  There is no
change for working configurations, and many configurations which are
currently broken will work out of the box without having to run xmodmap.

Denis