[Terminal-discuss] [bug #4212] Problem with "Alt-Gr" modifier key on non-US keyboards

[nobody]

=================== BUG #4212: LATEST MODIFICATIONS ==================
http://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/?func=detailbug&bug_id=4212&group_id=2757

Changes by: Alexander Malmberg <address@hidden>
Date: Sun 08/10/2003 at 22:31 (Europe/Stockholm)

            What     | Removed                   | Added
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Resolution | None                      | Fixed
              Status | Open                      | Closed


------------------ Additional Follow-up Comments ----------------------------
I've modified Terminal so that the command-as-meta option also makes alternate 
not act as meta (ie. with command-as-meta on, command is the only meta key). 
Thus, this option should fix (well, sortof) all issues encountered when using 
the broken default key settings. Menu key equivalents won't work when it's on 
but, well, if you have three functions and two keys, one function has to go. :)

(hoping that nobody wants to use command _and_ alternate as meta, as that means 
there'll need to be yet another option...)



=================== BUG #4212: FULL BUG SNAPSHOT ===================


Submitted by: wthaller                Project: Terminal.app                 
Submitted on: Sun 07/06/2003 at 23:25
Category:  None                       Severity:  5 - Major                  
Bug Group:  None                      Resolution:  Fixed                    
Assigned to:  alexm                   Status:  Closed                       

Summary:  Problem with "Alt-Gr" modifier key on non-US keyboards

Original Submission:  The "Alt-Gr" modifier key (reported by GNUstep as 
"Alternate Key"), which is required on German keyboards to type the characters 
[]{}@, doesn't work in GNUstep.

In the method handleKeyEvent in TerminalParser_Linux.m, it says...
        if (mask&(NSAlternateKeyMask|NSCommandKeyMask))
        {
                NSDebugLLog(@"key",@"  meta");
                [ts ts_sendCString: "e"];
        }

If I remove NSAlternateKeyMask from that test, everything seems to work fine.

Follow-up Comments
*******************

-------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun 08/10/2003 at 22:31       By: alexm
I've modified Terminal so that the command-as-meta option also makes alternate 
not act as meta (ie. with command-as-meta on, command is the only meta key). 
Thus, this option should fix (well, sortof) all issues encountered when using 
the broken default key settings. Menu key equivalents won't work when it's on 
but, well, if you have three functions and two keys, one function has to go. :)

(hoping that nobody wants to use command _and_ alternate as meta, as that means 
there'll need to be yet another option...)

-------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri 07/11/2003 at 22:46       By: wthaller
Yes.On my system (RedHat 8.0, German Keyboard, GNUstep from CVS), I haven't 
changed anything from the default. I have found the docs you referred to, it's 
in chapter 6 of the gui docs (while chapter 2 says that no config is necessary 
at all).

I've never encountered problems in other GNUstep apps, all the AltGr 
combinations work; I haven't needed the Alternate  key much, but it works for 
mouse-clicks on scrollbars, for example.
As everything except Terminal.app seems not to mind, I guess it's common for 
people to leave those keys at the default configuration.
By the way, Mac OS X uses the "option" key as both an "Alternate Key" and for 
typing special characters, dead keys, and so on. I don't know which key maps to 
Meta in OSX's terminal, I use hardly any interactive terminal apps besides the 
shell, so I never need it.


-------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu 07/10/2003 at 15:20       By: alexm
This is a GNUstep configuration issue. If the AltGr key isn't alternate, it 
shouldn't be reported as alternate. You probably want to adjust the 
GSFirstAlternateKey and GSSecondAlternateKey defaults (described in the -back 
documentation; iirc, Preferences can be used to change them). Unfortunately, 
the default values aren't good, especially not when you use AltGr as "mode 
switch".

I guess situations where you want don't want to treat alternate as meta overlap 
with the situations where you want to treat command as meta. I could change the 
behavior so that enabling that option causes alternate to be ignored here. 
However, this would cause right alt to stop working as meta when using this 
option, which might not be always be desirable. Comments? How common is it to 
use GNUstep without fixing these keys? (Eg. moving command to a windows-key and 
alternate to both alts if you have a windows-ish keyboard.)



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