Re: more xterm.ad sequences

[Pavel Roskin <proski gnu org>]

On Sat, 6 Sep 2003, GoTaR wrote:

> Hi!
>
> These are for directories history, find file and filtered view.

Have you tested it?  When I tried to follow the instructions in
README.xterm and ran "xrdb xterm.ad", xterm forgot the settings from
~/.Xresources, such as font size and background color.  Just in case, I'm
using Debian unstable and xterm-179.

The only way I found to install xterm.ad without affecting the existing
settings was to use the "-merge" switch to xrdb.

Even then, some of the working keys stopped working.  For example,
Shift-Ins would not insert text from the clipboard anymore.  I had to
change xterm.ad and replace #override with #augment to fix this problem.

Strange thing is, xterm.ad has been unchanged since 1998 and I don't
remember seeing any complaints about it.  Either nobody used it or those
who tried gave up and took some other approach.

Also, I'm not sure that redefining Alt-Shift-1 is correct.  This makes an
assumption about keyboard layout, namely that Shift-1 is "!".  This may be
wrong for some keyboards.  After I loaded the original xterm.ad I noticed
that Alt-Shift-1 would insert the exclamation sigh upside down, which is
used in Spanish.

I'm afraid not everybody will be happy with the "improved" xterm.ad.  I'm
more inclined to remove xterm.ad, xterm.ti and xterm.tcap from the
sources.  They don't belong here.

GNU Midnight Commander started as a shell for hackers who would gladly
reconfigure everything they are told to work around deficiencies of their
terminals.  The times have changed since then.  Terminals are more capable
and users don't want to tweak everything.  There are other means to make
keys work, such as the "Learn Keys" dialog.

I don't want users to be confused by something they most likely don't
need.  I haven't seen bug reports about xterm.ad, but I have seen and even
heard complaints from people who could not find "Learn Keys" because our
documentation is still oriented to the hackers of the past times.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin