GNU bug report logs - #76974
31.0.50; [wishlist] Add global key binding for tramp-revert-buffer-with-sudo

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From: Daniel Colascion <dancol <at> dancol.org>
To: Robert Pluim <rpluim <at> gmail.com>
Cc: stephen.berman <at> gmx.net, michael.albinus <at> gmx.de, 76974 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#76974: 31.0.50; [wishlist] Add global key binding for tramp-revert-buffer-with-sudo
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:27:20 -0400

On 2025-03-12 05:58, Robert Pluim wrote:
>>>>>> On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 02:43:18 -0700, Daniel Colascione 
>>>>>> <dancol <at> dancol.org> said:
> 
>     Daniel> On March 12, 2025 1:50:43 AM PDT, "Stephen Berman via Bug 
> reports for
>     Daniel> GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors"
>     Daniel> <bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org> wrote:
>     >> On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 09:27:50 +0100 Michael Albinus via "Bug 
> reports
>     >> for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors"
>     >> <bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org> wrote:
>     >>
>     >>> tramp-revert-buffer-with-sudo has been added to Emacs 30.1. I 
> propose to
>     >>> give it a global key binding 'C-x @'. With this binding, it is 
> more
>     >>> simple to revert the current buffer to visit with "sudo"
>     >>> permissions. This is useful for buffers visiting a file, or for 
> dired
>     >>> buffers.
>     >>
>     >> `C-x @' is the prefix for the `event-apply-*-modifier' functions 
> in the
>     >> globally accessible function-key-map.
> 
> 
>     Daniel> This prefix binding is sitting on some pretty valuable real 
> estate ---
>     Daniel> not as valuable as C-o, granted, but still. Is the modifier 
> prefix
>     Daniel> feature justifying its squatting on this binding? I don't 
> think I've
>     Daniel> ever used it on purpose, and keyboards with missing 
> essential
>     Daniel> modifiers are a rarity. Seems like a niche feature to 
> enable with a
>     Daniel> mode or something.
> 
> Itʼs one of those things that are useless until you need it, and then
> you *really* need it 🙂
> 
>     Daniel> That said, does the sudo feature (which is great and sorely 
> needed)
>     Daniel> need such a prominent keybinding? Might M-x sudo be 
> sufficient? People
>     Daniel> type s u d o in the terminal all the time.
> 
> How about "C-u C-u M-x revert-buffer", and then people can choose
> their own key binding? Sticking it on "C-x @" or "C-x |" seems like
> overkill.

FWIW, I'm not a fan of this "tap C-u seventeen times while hopping on 
one leg
under the full moon" UI paradigm that parts of the system have. C-u 
C-SPC isn't
great either. I'd hope we could move more towards named commands and 
less universal
prefix as a generic identifier that means different things in different 
contexts.

I'd also find M-x s u d o a lot more convenient than C-u C-u M-x [...]. 
Not every
possible command needs a keybinding.

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