Dired:: "mouse 1: visit this file in other window"

[kevin.gal]

Please write in English if possible, because the Emacs maintainers
usually do not have translators to read other languages for them.

Your bug report will be posted to the address@hidden mailing list.

Please describe exactly what actions triggered the bug
and the precise symptoms of the bug:

In Emacs 22, the existing middle mouse button behavior over
file/directory names, has been copied to the left mouse button,  that
is, visiting a file/directory buffer in an "other window".  Although
this behavior now has redundant bindings, this is not my primary concern.  I am
finding the new behavior to be quite annoying since, it turns out, I am a heavy
user of the prior behavior.

Here's why. I often use the left mouse button to move the cursor from
one buffer window to another and to copy filenames in dired and
buffer-menu buffers via highlighting with the mouse.  Now, to get the former 
behavior, I have to remember to hold the left
mouse button down for a while before letting go.  Otherwise, if I just
click it, in a buffer-menu or dired buffer, for example, that buffer
might disappear and be replaced by a file buffer or another dired
buffer.

Perhaps there is a compelling reason to provide this new capability to
the left mouse button, such as an attempt to accommodate those with a
2-button mouse.  Whatever the reason, I believe it should be seen as an
added behavior which shouldn't alter the old behavior.  So, I'd like to
propose this compromise:

Switch the roles of the two bindings.  That is, restore the old
behavior.  Then, to invoke the new behavior of visiting the
file/directory in the "other window", add that binding to the scenario in which 
the user must hold the mouse
button down for a bit.  This changes the visiting of a file/directory to be a 
deliberate act and removes the chance that it could be an accidental one.

If Emacs crashed, and you have the Emacs process in the gdb debugger,
please include the output from the following gdb commands:
    `bt full' and `xbacktrace'.
If you would like to further debug the crash, please read the file
/users/gallagk/usr/local/share/emacs/22.0.91/etc/DEBUG for instructions.


In GNU Emacs 22.0.91.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, X toolkit, Xaw3d scroll bars)
 of 2006-11-20 on houfcs4
X server distributor `Hummingbird Ltd.', version 11.0.90020
configured using `configure '--prefix=/users/gallagk/usr/local''

Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: C
  locale-coding-system: nil
  default-enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Dired by name

Minor modes in effect:
  shell-dirtrack-mode: t
  show-paren-mode: t
  display-time-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  tool-bar-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  unify-8859-on-encoding-mode: t
  utf-translate-cjk-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t

Recent input:
C-x C-f <return> SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC 
SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC SPC 
SPC SPC p p p p <help-echo> <down-mouse-1> <mouse-2> 
C-x o C-x 1 <escape> x r e p o r t SPC e m SPC b SPC 
<return>

Recent messages:
Loading time...done
Loading paren...done
Loading regexp-opt...done
Loading advice...done
Loading edt...done
Loading /users/gallagk/.edt-gnu-Hummingbird-Ltd.-X-keys...done
User EDT custom keymap active
waiting for cleartool to start...done
Reading view properties...done
Loading emacsbug...done