Re: DEL vs Backspace

[Richard Stallman]

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  > > Maybe we should inverse this mapping.  Similarly for RET-vs-return and
  > > TAB-vs-tab.
  > >
  > > Another benefit in the long run would be to free C-i and C-m for the
  > > users to bind as they please in GUI frames.

  > Sounds good to me.

This might be an improvement.  At the same time, this could easily
break some people's init files in subtle ways, and that could be a real pain.
It might not be obvious what users need to do to fix their configurations.

"Try the change and see if it breaks" is not an adequate way to
evaluate the consequences.  It will take years for users to encounter
this change and discover whether it broke anything.  By that time, the change
will be an "old" change (though not old _for them_).

To properly evaluate this change calls for someone to thoroughly
understand the full set of use cases of rebinding these keys, and
verify that nothing too bad will happen in any of them.  This isn't
impossibly hard, but it requires a substantial amount of careful
thought.


-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)