Re: dired-x functionality default to ON for all interactive emacs sessions

[Daniel Ortmann]

Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

> dired-aux.el is an original part of dired which I split out so that
> normal use of Dired would be smaller.

> dired-x.el is completely different.  It is a collection of
> miscellaneous extensions to Dired.  I thought Dired-x was interesting
> enough to put into the Emacs distribution, but I did not think it was
> useful enough to be worth either maintaining it or documenting it in
> the Emacs manual.  Hence the way I treated it.

I have no opinion on dired-aux.el ... it's treatment seems fine.

After inspecting the code more, allow me to refine my suggestion.  The
following bindings from dired-x are the most useful to me; without them
I would use dired less:

(define-key dired-mode-map "\M-o" 'dired-omit-toggle)
(define-key dired-mode-map "w" 'dired-copy-filename-as-kill)

E.g. I find it extremely convenient to enable up to 6 numbered backup
files and use M-o to avoid needing to SEE those files.  It works well in
many places where regular version control is a pain.  I also use marking
together with w a LOT, and also 0 w to grab whole paths.  I can't
imagine using dired without it.

I think that these useful bindings / features should be always available
for all emacs users.  It is a pity that many dired users don't use or
know about them because they have never loaded dired-x.

Perhaps the above 2 bindings could be moved into dired?  Or would that
disturb things too much?  (Maybe for what I am asking makes no sense;
that is a possibility.)

Possibly I am not a typical dired user.

Certainly sticking (require 'dired-x) is no hardship ... as long as one
knows about the command.

-- 
Daniel Ortmann, 2414 30 Av NW, #D, Rochester, MN 55901
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