RE: `C-b' is backward-char, `left' is left-char - why?

[Drew Adams]

> why do you need "C-f" and "right" to be the same thing?

I don't.  Why do we need them to be different, by default?

That's the question I posed (`C-b' and `left', actually).

Haven't seen an answer yet, except that bidi needs them to be different.  The
question then is why bidi's-need-for-this needs to become
Emacs's-need-in-general (all the time, everywhere, for everyone)?

As I said clearly several times, if it must, it must.  Really not a big deal.
Just asking whether and why it must.

> If it's for some generic code (for
> instance, preview.el has the variable preview-auto-reveal 
> that needs to
> know that C-f and "right" both enter the preview), then it needs to
> accomodate this use case for people who do use bidi, and if it's for
> private code, surely you can rebind them (which takes just 
> one more line
> in your .emacs than turning off the minor mode).

I mentioned `substitute-key-definition' and `remap'.

Of course it's not a giant perturbance for users to figure this out and DTRT to
accommodate the default key changes.

I was just asking whether and why it's necessary.  As I said at the beginning:
"I'm curious".

> So what's the point of changing stuff that works fine

Uh, just who is changing things here?  Are `C-b' and `left' bound to different
keys in the current Emacs release (23.3)?  Are they in any previous release?

Or are you proposing that we leave `left' bound to `backward-char' - i.e. no
change?

> and adding a trivial minor mode that is going to pollute
> our already crowded C-h m?

That `C-h m' is crowded is certainly true.

If users can get bidiless behavior (no default key changes) simply by toggling
an option, that will be great.  I'm sure Eli would welcome the patch for that,
if you have one.

I don't have a better idea than a minor mode, but I know _zero_ about bidi and
its implementation.  Better ideas are certainly welcome.  As you said, "what's
the point of changing stuff that works fine?"  If we must, we must.  But must
we?  Why?