Subject: bug#10195: 24.0.92; M-w may no longer provide visual feedback

From: Jay Berkenbilt <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:09:53 -0500

Type some text.  Save it in the kill ring with

C-a C-SPC M-f M-w

Then do this again:

M-w

In emacs 23, the cursor would bounce between the point and the mark the
second time M-w was pressed, since the highlighting of the region turned
off after the first time.  Or, if transient-mark-mode is nil, then the
first M-w would bounce the cursor between the point and mark.  In
emacs24, M-w seems to never cause the cursor to bounce between the point
and mark.  I don't see anything in NEWS about this change, and I don't
see anything in the documentation of kill-ring-save that discusses this
or how to influence this behavior.  I personally do not use transient
mark mode, so this cursor movement is the only visual feedback I have
that I have selected the region I intended to select.  While I've been
using GNU emacs since 1987 and this behavior is a relatively recent
addition, I had no idea how much I've become accustomed to it!

In GNU Emacs 24.0.92.1 (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.24.6)
 of 2011-12-01 on jberkenbilt-linux
Windowing system distributor `The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.11004000
configured using `configure  '--prefix=/opt/emacs-24.0.92''

Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Outline

Minor modes in effect:
  shell-dirtrack-mode: t
  which-function-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  column-number-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  view-mode: t

Recent input:
k i l l - r i n g C-s C-s C-a C-r c l i p b o a r d 
C-r C-r C-r C-a M-x m a n <return> x t e r m <return> 
C-x o C-s c l i p b o a r d C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s 
C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-a C-s c l i p 
b o a r d C-s C-s C-a C-x C-f ~ / C-g C-f C-g C-x C-g 
C-g C-x o C-x 1 C-x C-l C-s y a n k C-a C-x b * s c 
<tab> <return> C-y <C-backspace> <down-mouse-1> <mouse-1> 
<down-mouse-1> <mouse-1> C-y C-x b s s <tab> <return> 
C-s r a s C-g C-s r s a C-s C-a C-s p k c s 1 2 C-s 
C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-a C-s p i c C-g C-g C-r p k c 
s 1 2 SPC C-s C-s M-x m a n <return> p k c s 1 2 <return> 
C-x o C-s k e y C-a C-s - o u t C-s C-x 1 C-x # C-x 
o C-s k C-a C-x o C-s k e y C-s C-s C-a C-x o C-s C-s 
C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s C-s 
C-a C-x k <return> C-a C-SPC M-f M-w C-h c M-w C-h 
f k i l l SPC r i n <tab> <return> M-w M-w C-a C-SPC 
M-f M-w C-h n C-x 1 C-s d e l e t i o n C-s C-s C-a 
C-v C-s k i l l C-s C-s C-s C-s M-< C-s C-s C-s C-s 
C-s C-s C-a M-x r e p o r t SPC e b <backspace> m SPC 
b SPC <return>

Recent messages:
Mark saved where search started
When done with a buffer, type C-x #
Mark saved where search started [3 times]
Mark set
M-w runs the command kill-ring-save
Type C-x 1 to delete the help window.
Mark activated
Mark saved where search started [2 times]
Mark set
Mark saved where search started

Load-path shadows:
/home/ejb/elisp/startup hides /opt/emacs-24.0.92/share/emacs/24.0.92/lisp/startup

Features:
(shadow sort flyspell ispell mail-extr emacsbug man noutline outline
easy-mmode multi-isearch tabify vc-rcs add-log cc-mode cc-fonts cc-guess
cc-menus cc-cmds shell pcomplete grep dired help-mode view vc-svn vc
ediff-merg ediff-diff ediff-wind ediff-help ediff-util ediff-mult
ediff-init ediff vc-dispatcher qmime qmime-compose qmime-view which-func
imenu filecache server uniquify warnings compile ange-ftp comint ring
message format-spec rfc822 mml mml-sec mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode
mail-parse rfc2231 mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader cc-styles cc-align
cc-engine cc-vars cc-defs smtpmail auth-source eieio byte-opt bytecomp
byte-compile cconv macroexp assoc gnus-util password-cache sendmail
regexp-opt rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums mm-util mail-prsvr mail-utils
project advice help-fns advice-preload jka-compr cus-edit easymenu
wid-edit cus-start cus-load edmacro kmacro cl time-date tooltip
ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel x-win x-dnd tool-bar dnd
fontset image fringe lisp-mode register page menu-bar rfn-eshadow timer
select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu font-core
frame cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai
tai-viet lao korean japanese hebrew greek romanian slovak czech european
ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help
simple abbrev minibuffer loaddefs button faces cus-face files
text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env code-pages mule
custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote make-network-process
dbusbind dynamic-setting system-font-setting font-render-setting
move-toolbar gtk x-toolkit x multi-tty emacs)