Subject: Missing documentation of function-key-map

From: Alan Mackenzie <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2022 19:30:36 +0000

Hello, Emacs.

function-key-map is not defined in the Elisp manual.

It is mentioned, in passing, on the page "Translation Keymaps" thusly:

     `local-function-key-map' inherits from `function-key-map'.  The
     latter should only be altered if you want the binding to apply in
     all terminals, so using the former is almost always preferred.

So, all we know about function-key-map is when to alter it (and even
here, it is unclear what the "all" in "all terminals" means).  Not what
it's for, not when it's looked up and used, not what its contents are.

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The doc string for function-key-map is a little better.  It, at least,
attempts to give a context for the variable ("The parent keymap of all
`local-function-key-map' instances.").

The doc string gives an example of what belongs in the variable
("Function key definitions that apply to all terminal devices should go
here."), but this doesn't define its contents.  It contains more than
function key definitions - for example, function keys with modifier keys,
and modifier keys on their own (for example, a binding for
event-apply-control-modifier).

These are all documentation bugs.

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).