Re: [External] : Re: Concern about new binding.

[Karl Fogel]

Drew is making a good point here (I realize he sounds a bit 
annoyed, but I can sympathize).  His proposal make sense -- or at 
any rate, there's a good proposal easily derived from what he's 
saying.

If Emacs were to declare that from this point forward it will 
leave all currently-unbound `C-x LETTER' unbound, and *recommend* 
that packages not bind them by default either, then we'd have a 
few more very convenient keybindings left over for users.

A package could still suggest `C-x SOME-SPECIFIC-LETTER' as a 
binding for some entry point in the package, and even provide 
convenience mechanisms to cause that binding to happen.

We can't easil survey users about their bindings, but anecdotally 
it seem like a lot of people -- not only Drew -- have been using 
those last few remaining slots under `C-x' for their own favorite 
things.  (The fact that some packages also use that space is a 
clue that people consider that space to be desirable real estate 
in the mental keymap universe.)

This isn't about Magit per se -- it's bigger than Magit.  However, 
this proposal would make it somewhat more okay for Magit to 
continue binding `C-x g' by default too.  While Magit wouldn't be 
following the new recommendation either, at least Magit would not 
have to worry about clobbering some existing binding.  Given that 
Magit is so popular and so many people are accustomed to that 
binding already, this is still a decent outcome in the specific 
case of Magit anyway.  (The fact that Magit also binds `C-x M-g' 
by default is a separate headache, but that doesn't have to be 
resolved for this proposal to be considered.)

These days, when we decide to make a new global function binding 
in default Emacs, it's hard to imagine how the new binding could 
be *so* important that it must take over one of the existing free 
convenient slots and yet somehow not be important enough for us to 
just replace some other less important binding (thus leaving the 
free space free). 

I'm not saying that scenario couldn't happen, but it's going to be 
rare.  It's certainly not happening in the case of 
`revert-buffer'.  I mean, let's ask ourselves: if having 
`revert-buffer' on a convenient key isn't important enough to 
replace some other little-used binding, how on earth can it be 
important enough to replace one of the free bindings?  After all, 
those free bindings aren't *actually* free -- users are using them 
for lots of things of their own choosing!

Emacs has always rewarded users who learn to customize their 
keybindings.  Let's make it possible for that reward to be as 
large as possible by guaranteeing them some conveniently free 
slots for their favorite functions and keymap prefixes.

The `C-c LETTER' space is great, but it's only 26 letters.  I used 
them up long ago, and I'm sure I'm not alone.  Having 4 or 5 more 
letters under `C-x' would be a significant boost.

Best regards, -Karl 

On 05 Feb 2021, Drew Adams wrote:
> > Perhaps `C-x x <letter>' would be nice for these buffer-related
> > commands?  It's not exactly mnemonic, but it has a certain ring to it.
> >
> > Any major packages that have claimed the `C-x x' binding, then?
>
> Please, no.  I had a zillion bindings on prefix
> key `C-x p' for Bookmark+.
>
> Then, recently, you grabbed that key for Project,
> paying no attention to my requests to please not
> do that.  Maybe my packages don't count for you
> as "any major packages", but they count to me.
>
> When you did that, I moved all of my `C-x p' keys
> to prefix key `C-x x'.  And now?  You want to
> take over `C-x x' also.
>
> When will this stop?  Can't we please have a
> _moratorium__ on Emacs using up, with default
> bindings, the few remaining unused keys?
>
> You guys are now desperately _looking_ for some
> commands that you might be able to clump together
> on a prefix key, just because you've decided to
> waste a default binding on `revert-buffer'.
>
> You have a solution in search of a problem.
>
> 35+ years Emacs lived without a default binding
> for `revert-buffer'.  Now, suddenly you can't
> do without one.
> ___
>
>
> https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/BookmarkPlus#BookmarkPrefixKeys
> ___
>
>
> Global Bindings Starting With C-x x:
> key             binding
> ---             -------
>
> C-x x C-b       bmkp-previous-bookmark-repeat
> C-x x C-f       bmkp-next-bookmark-repeat
> C-x x C-j       bmkp-jump-to-list
> C-x x C-k       bmkp-delete-bookmarks
> C-x x C-l       bmkp-switch-to-bookmark-file-this-file/buffer
> C-x x RET       bmkp-toggle-autonamed-bookmark-set/delete
> C-x x C-n       bmkp-next-bookmark-this-file/buffer-repeat
> C-x x C-p       bmkp-previous-bookmark-this-file/buffer-repeat
> C-x x C-s       bmkp-save-bookmarks-this-file/buffer
> C-x x C-u       bmkp-unlight-bookmark-here
> C-x x ESC       Prefix Command
> C-x x ,         bmkp-this-file/buffer-bmenu-list
> C-x x 0         bmkp-empty-file
> C-x x 2         bmkp-clone-bookmark
> C-x x 5         bookmark-jump-other-frame
> C-x x :         bmkp-choose-navlist-of-type
> C-x x =         bmkp-bookmarks-lighted-at-point
> C-x x ?         bmkp-describe-bookmark-lighted-here
> C-x x B         bmkp-choose-navlist-from-bookmark-list
> C-x x E         bmkp-edit-bookmark-record
> C-x x H         bmkp-light-bookmarks
> C-x x I         bookmark-insert-location
> C-x x K         bmkp-set-desktop-bookmark
> C-x x L         bmkp-switch-bookmark-file-create
> C-x x M         bookmark-set-no-overwrite
> C-x x N         bmkp-navlist-bmenu-list
> C-x x U         bmkp-unlight-bookmarks
> C-x x a         Prefix Command
> C-x x b         bmkp-previous-bookmark-repeat
> C-x x c         Prefix Command
> C-x x d         bookmark-delete
> C-x x e         edit-bookmarks
> C-x x f         bmkp-next-bookmark-repeat
> C-x x g         bookmark-jump
> C-x x h         bmkp-light-bookmark-this-buffer
> C-x x i         bookmark-insert
> C-x x j         bookmark-jump
> C-x x l         bookmark-load
> C-x x m         bmkp-bookmark-set-confirm-overwrite
> C-x x n         bmkp-next-bookmark-this-file/buffer-repeat
> C-x x o         bookmark-jump-other-window
> C-x x p         bmkp-previous-bookmark-this-file/buffer-repeat
> C-x x q         bookmark-jump-other-window
> C-x x r         bmkp-edit-bookmark-name-and-location
> C-x x s         bookmark-save
> C-x x t         Prefix Command
> C-x x u         bmkp-unlight-bookmark-this-buffer
> C-x x w         bookmark-write
> C-x x x         bmkp-toggle-autotemp-on-set
> C-x x y         bmkp-set-bookmark-file-bookmark
> C-x x <C-down>  bmkp-next-lighted-this-buffer-repeat
> C-x x <C-up>    bmkp-previous-lighted-this-buffer-repeat
> C-x x <delete>                  bmkp-delete-bookmarks
> C-x x <deletechar>              bmkp-delete-bookmarks
> C-x x <deleteline>              bmkp-delete-bookmarks
> C-x x <down>                    bmkp-next-bookmark-this-file/buffer-repeat
> C-x x <kp-delete>               bmkp-delete-bookmarks
> C-x x <left>                    bmkp-previous-bookmark-repeat
> C-x x <next>                    bmkp-next-bookmark-w32-repeat
> C-x x <prior>                   bmkp-previous-bookmark-w32-repeat
> C-x x <right>                   bmkp-next-bookmark-repeat
> C-x x <up>      bmkp-previous-bookmark-this-file/buffer-repeat
> C-x x <wheel-down>              bmkp-next-bookmark-this-file/buffer-repeat
> C-x x <wheel-up>                bmkp-previous-bookmark-this-file/buffer-repeat
>
> C-x x t C-y     bmkp-paste-add-tags
> C-x x t ESC     Prefix Command
> C-x x t +       Prefix Command
> C-x x t -       Prefix Command
> C-x x t 0       bmkp-remove-all-tags
> C-x x t V       bmkp-set-tag-value-for-navlist
> C-x x t c       bmkp-copy-tags
> C-x x t d       bmkp-remove-tags-from-all
> C-x x t e       bmkp-edit-tags
> C-x x t l       bmkp-list-all-tags
> C-x x t p       bmkp-paste-add-tags
> C-x x t q       bmkp-paste-replace-tags
> C-x x t r       bmkp-rename-tag
> C-x x t v       bmkp-set-tag-value
>
> C-x x c C-k     bmkp-wrap-bookmark-with-last-kbd-macro
> C-x x c RET     bmkp-toggle-autonamed-bookmark-set/delete
> C-x x c ESC     Prefix Command
> C-x x c F       bmkp-make-function-bookmark
> C-x x c K       bmkp-set-desktop-bookmark
> C-x x c M       bookmark-set
> C-x x c a       bmkp-autofile-set
> C-x x c f       bmkp-file-target-set
> C-x x c m       bmkp-bookmark-set-confirm-overwrite
> C-x x c s       bmkp-set-sequence-bookmark
> C-x x c u       bmkp-url-target-set
> C-x x c y       bmkp-set-bookmark-file-bookmark
>
> C-x x a B       bmkp-annotate-all-bookmarks-this-file/buffer
> C-x x a S       bookmark-show-all-annotations
> C-x x a a       bmkp-annotate-bookmark
> C-x x a b       bmkp-annotate-bookmark-this-file/buffer
> C-x x a e       bookmark-edit-annotation
> C-x x a s       bookmark-show-annotation
>
> C-x x M-w       bmkp-set-snippet-bookmark
>
> C-x x t M-w     bmkp-copy-tags
>
> C-x x t - a     bmkp-untag-a-file
> C-x x t - b     bmkp-remove-tags
>
> C-x x t + a     bmkp-tag-a-file
> C-x x t + b     bmkp-add-tags
>
> C-x x c M-w     bmkp-set-snippet-bookmark