GNU bug report logs - #11989
mark region unreliable in 24.1

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Brent S. Elmer Ph.D." <webe3vt <at> aim.com>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: mark region unreliable in 24.1
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2012 10:07:00 -0400

I am a long time emacs user and recently upgraded to 24.1.  One very
annoying bug is that marking a region sometimes works but sometimes
doesn't.  I use CTL-SPC to set the mark for the beginning of the region.
I then move the cursor to the end of the region I want to mark.  I then
do something like CTL-w or ALT-w to cut or copy the region.  Sometimes
the region gets marked and sometimes it doesn't.  I read through the
release notes and see that a lot of the region marking and clipboard
stuff has changed.  I have changed some of the variables to see if I
could get it to work like it did in 23 but nothing seems to make it
reliable.  I think there is a bug in the region handling.  Another place
I noticed the region marking not working is in Python mode.  I mark the
start of a region using CTL-SPC and move the cursor to the end of the
region.  I then go to the Python menu and select shift region
left/right.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.  There is some
kind of a bug in the region handling in version 24.1.  Region marking
was always reliable before.

If it makes any difference, here is my setup:
Debian GNU/Linux testing/wheezy 
gnu emacs 24.1+1-1 directly from the Debian repository(unstable branch)

Message #8 received at 11989 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> IRO.UMontreal.CA>
To: "Brent S. Elmer Ph.D." <webe3vt <at> aim.com>
Cc: 11989 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#11989: mark region unreliable in 24.1
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2012 05:39:28 -0400

> I then move the cursor to the end of the region I want to mark.  I then
> do something like CTL-w or ALT-w to cut or copy the region.  Sometimes
> the region gets marked and sometimes it doesn't.  I read through the

Could you be more specific?  "The region gets marked" means (to me) that
the region gets highlighted, which should already happen while you "move
the cursor to the end of the region".  So do you see the region being
highlighted while you move the "cursor" (which I call point)?  If you
do, then what is it that really "doesn't work"?

Try to be super specific since most likely the thing that matters is
for you an irrelevant detail you don't even notice.


        Stefan

Message #11 received at 11989 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Wendy Elmer <webe3vt <at> aim.com>
To: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> IRO.UMontreal.CA>
Cc: 11989 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#11989: mark region unreliable in 24.1
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2012 18:48:51 -0400

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On Sun, 2012-07-22 at 05:39 -0400, Stefan Monnier wrote:

> > I then move the cursor to the end of the region I want to mark.  I then
> > do something like CTL-w or ALT-w to cut or copy the region.  Sometimes
> > the region gets marked and sometimes it doesn't.  I read through the
> 
> Could you be more specific?  "The region gets marked" means (to me) that
> the region gets highlighted, which should already happen while you "move
> the cursor to the end of the region".  So do you see the region being
> highlighted while you move the "cursor" (which I call point)?  If you
> do, then what is it that really "doesn't work"?
> 
> Try to be super specific since most likely the thing that matters is
> for you an irrelevant detail you don't even notice.
> 
> 
>         Stefan

The region doesn't get highlighted.   When the region gets marked
correctly and then I do an ALT-w for example, the cursor will bounce
back to the the location that was marked with the CTL-spc and then back
to point at the end of the region.  Then if I do a CTL-y, the region I
marked will be yanked and pasted.  When it doesn't work, when I do an
ALT-w, the cursor does not bounce back to the mark.  And then of course
when I do a CTL-y, nothing is yanked back because the mark did not work
properly.

So, what seems to not be working reliably is:
do a CTL-spc to set mark
move the cursor to another location with the mouse by clicking with the
left mouse button
then do CTL-w or ALT-w

at the point of the CTL-w or ALT-w it is like the mark is not set any
more because the cursor does not bounce back to the CTL-spc location

Since I am running Debian, I have set the emacs alternative back to
version 23 and setting the mark always works.

Brent

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #14 received at 11989 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Brent S. Elmer Ph.D." <webe3vt <at> aim.com>
To: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> IRO.UMontreal.CA>
Cc: 11989 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#11989: mark region unreliable in 24.1
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 09:13:59 -0400

On Sun, 2012-07-22 at 05:39 -0400, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> > I then move the cursor to the end of the region I want to mark.  I then
> > do something like CTL-w or ALT-w to cut or copy the region.  Sometimes
> > the region gets marked and sometimes it doesn't.  I read through the
> 
> Could you be more specific?  "The region gets marked" means (to me) that
> the region gets highlighted, which should already happen while you "move
> the cursor to the end of the region".  So do you see the region being
> highlighted while you move the "cursor" (which I call point)?  If you
> do, then what is it that really "doesn't work"?
> 
> Try to be super specific since most likely the thing that matters is
> for you an irrelevant detail you don't even notice.
> 
> 
>         Stefan

Bug # 11588 looks very similar to what I am talking about.  Using
CTL-spc to set the mark for a region and then using left mouse click to
mark the end of the region does not work every time like it did in emacs
23 and before.  Years and years of marking regions like this and then
with emacs 24 it not working anymore is frustrating.

Brent

Message #19 received at 11989 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Tassilo Horn <tassilo <at> member.fsf.org>
To: "Brent S. Elmer Ph.D." <webe3vt <at> aim.com>
Cc: 11989 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> IRO.UMontreal.CA>
Subject: Re: bug#11989: mark region unreliable in 24.1
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2012 11:56:38 +0200

"Brent S. Elmer Ph.D." <webe3vt <at> aim.com> writes:

> Bug # 11588 looks very similar to what I am talking about.

Indeed, and this bug is already fixed, i.e., with the current emacs
trunk I can do

  C-SPC <left-click-somewhere> C-w

and it'll kill the region from where I've done C-SPC to where I clicked
with the left mouse button.  However, you mustn't move the mouse between
pushing and releasing the mouse button, but that's the same as with
emacs 23.

But AFAICS, this change is only committed to trunk.  Maybe it should
also be committed to the emacs-24 branch.

Bye,
Tassilo

Message #22 received at 11989 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Chong Yidong <cyd <at> gnu.org>
To: Tassilo Horn <tassilo <at> member.fsf.org>
Cc: "Brent S. Elmer Ph.D." <webe3vt <at> aim.com>, 11989 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#11989: mark region unreliable in 24.1
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2012 14:15:36 +0800

Tassilo Horn <tassilo <at> member.fsf.org> writes:

> But AFAICS, this change is only committed to trunk.  Maybe it should
> also be committed to the emacs-24 branch.

Done, thanks for the suggestion.

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