Re: Extend the existing alternative set of key bindings for terminals (was: Second Ctl in keychord not detected)

[Tim Cross]

Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@gmail.com> writes:

> Also, it appears to me that we may keep losing terminal-incompatible
> keys in future unless we provide some mechanisms to check terminal
> compatibility automatically. Any ideas?
>

No ideas on this. Problem being I don't think there is anything like a
terminfo service which will tell you about what capabilities/bindings a
terminal emulator has.

Just some thoughts on this -

I fear any such attempt is likely to end up in a game of 'wack-a-mole'.
While it makes some sense to provide alternative key bindings for Emacs
running under the GNU Linux console, especially given the limitations
under the console are well defined and constant, I'm not sure
we can provide reliable solutions or tests for different terminal
emulators (which will often 'reserve' various key bindings for their own
use. This is especially true for more advanced terminal emulators like
tmux.

An alternative which might be worth considering would be to improve
documentation on using different popular terminal emulators, like tmux
which could cover both adapting org key bindings and adapting the key
bindings the emulator uses (a very quick google on this indicates you
can change the tmux bindings, but that detail is apparently not well
documented). Such documentation could include some guidelines on how to
identify the issue, identify at what layer (window manager, terminal
emulator, communication protocol etc) the problematic binding is being
intercepted etc. The interactions at this layer can be complex and
confusing, especially for users who don't have a clear model of how all
the layers interact.  

A more long term strategy which I wonder if we should consider is
whether org would benefit from adopting the use of something like the
hydra package. Org needs a lot of key bindings - many more than most
other modes. Available bindings are in short supply. Perhaps leveraging
off something like hydras would both offer more flexibility and make it
easier to manage. Likewise, could transient mode help in this area?