Re: ";0c" in terminal with slow connections

[Dan Nicolaescu]

Richard Stallman <address@hidden> writes:

  >     > Emacs uses a read-event with a timer for processing the response,
  >     > maybe the response does come back before the timer expires, so it is
  >                                     ^^^^^^ after
  >     > processed as normal input.
  > 
  >     Yes, I think this is the problem, as it occurs only with connections
  >     having a high latency (such as ADSL). Is a timer really necessary?
  > 
  > If there is a chance that the terminal won't respond at all,
  > the timer would enable Enacs to avoid hanging.  Is that the
  > reason for the timer?

The reason for the timer is to avoid hanging.

  > What is the purpose of making this query in the first place?

The query is used to find out the version of xterm being used.

The reason is to enable the modifyOtherKeys feature in new enough
xterms. With that feature enabled key combinations C-. C-,
and other keys that are normally not usable in a terminal generate
distinct keys and emacs can bind them. Only newer versions of xterm
can do this and AFAIK no other terminal emulators that set TERM to
xterm can do it.

If we just send the escape sequence to enable modifyOtherKeys on a
terminal that does not support it, the escape sequence will appear as
junk on the screen. 

  > Maybe the best thing to do is get rid of it.