Subject: bug#27490: 24.5; Elisp manual explanation of `function-key-map' and its inheritors

From: Lars Ingebrigtsen <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Jul 2019 17:33:45 +0200

Drew Adams <[email-masked]> writes:

> Nothing is said about `function-key-map' and its inheritance relations,
> beyond the fact that local such maps inherit from `f-k-m', and that
> `f-k-m' "should not be used directly" (no reason given).
>
> Please consider explaining `function-key-map'.

This text:

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@code{local-function-key-map} inherits from @code{function-key-map},
but the latter should not be used directly.

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was added by this commit:

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commit 6b9e769476955b928b0248fef5aaa0e40754e257
Author: Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]>
Date:   Sat Jan 17 19:14:52 2009 +0000

    (Translation Keymaps): Rename function-key-map to local-function-key-map.

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So I'm assuming that there was a plan to phase out using
function-key-map or something?  Perhaps Eli can clarify.

But there's a bunch of examples in the manual that does use the map, so
either these should be adjusted, or the documentation clarified:

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The only way to affect the behavior of keys within Emacs is through
@code{xmodmap} (outside Emacs) or @code{define-key} (inside Emacs).  The
@code{define-key} command should be used in conjunction with the
@code{function-key-map} map.  For instance,

@lisp
(define-key function-key-map [M-@key{TAB}] [?\M-\t])
@end lisp

-- 
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   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no