Re: comint-insert-input on non-command lines: A trivial fix, a quibble, and a bug

[Luc Teirlinck]

Nick Roberts wrote:

   Luc, do you actually use comint?

I use ielm extensively, I use GUD mode, ``M-x shell', inferior Lisp mode,
some Comint derived modes not included with the Emacs distribution and
probably some other Comint derived modes I am not immediately thinking
of right now.

   but I have been using mouse-2 to insert input (in the GUD buffer)
   for a long time, and not found it confusing.

I claimed that the mouse-2 behavior was confusing with your latest
changes applied and with comint-use-prompt-regexp non-nil.  How long
have you been using mouse-2 in this situation?  mouse-2 copies old
text to the current command line in the entire Comint buffer and never
yanks.  This is very confusing behavior to me.

    > Also, people who find the old behavior useful will now have to set
    > comint-use-prompt-regexp non-nil for no other reason than to restore
    > that behavior.  To me, this seems weird. 

   Fields provide the opportunity to distinguish between input and output:
   I think we should use it.

I was talking about people who wanted to use `C-c RET' to insert old
output at the current prompt.  Given the current code, people who want
that have to set comint-use-prompt-regexp non-nil and hence can not
use fields.  That is what seems weird to me.

   What binding do you think comint-insert-clicked-input had?  It was mouse-2
   and it overrode the global binding

Only on input.  But in the situation I described, it overwrites it in
the entire buffer.

   Perhaps you are also arguing against
   that function which was introduced six years ago and in Emacs 21.

I am not arguing to remove it now.  (I would have opposed it if I
would have been part of the discussion six years ago, but that is a
moot point now.)  It _never_ worked when comint-use-prompt-regexp was
non-nil and what I am arguing now is that, in fact, it should not work
in that situation, that is mouse-2 should have its global binding if
comint-use-prompt-regexp is non-nil.

   It doesn't make yanking impossible (try it), just yanking at previous input.

I _did_ try it, in the situation I described and it did make yanking
impossible in the entire buffer.
 
   I don't even follow that, mouse-2 inserts input even when
   comint-use-prompt-regexp being non-nil

But it does that in the entire buffer.

Sincerely,

Luc.