Re: delete-selection-mode as default (WAS: Some developement questions)

[Richard Stallman]

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

  > The _only_ problem I personally have with delete-selection-mode is
  > that it also replaces the region created by the likes of "C-x C-x",
  > something that "most software out there" does not and cannot do.

I agree.  What I want to happen after I make a region with ordinary
Emacs commands, including C-SPC M-f and C-x C-x, is this:

  * It is active.
  * It is highlighted.
  * DEL does not delete it.
  * self-insert does not delete it.

However, marking a region with the mouse is a different case.  If DEL
and self-insert were to delete such a region, I would not object.

As for shift selection, that uses keyboard commands, so I think it is
natural to treat them like other keyboard commands in this regard.
But I don't use shift selection, so I would be inclined to follow the
preferences of users that really do use shift selection.  I'd create
a separate setting to control this case, then set the default based on
their preferences.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation (https://gnu.org, https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)