Re: Keybindings and changing keyboard layout [was: Writting Greek in Emacs]

[Juri Linkov]

>> > As to input method using modifier keys, it might lead to conflicts with 
>> > default key bindings for some commands.
>>
>> Yes, when I write in Greek I do not have access to emacs keybindings
>> (C-b etc).
>
> Yes, this is somewhat annoying, but I haven't yet a good idea on how
> to cope with that.
>
> I like to change the keyboard layout at the X level, since then I can
> also type in Greek into a terminal or into a (gasp!) browser, and the
> keyboard layout stays consistent.
>
> But Emacs (rightfully) balks at me that CTRL-β is a funny control sequence.
>
> Surprisingly, some applications seem to magically "cope" in some way. In
> Firefox, CTRL-τ opens a new tab (as CTRL-t would do under a Latin layout).
> But this doesn't really count: Firefox has just a few useful keybindings
> and the whole model actually discourages using them, while Emacs has
> a very rich set of bindings which is at the core of its user interaction.
>
> Given the very dense keybindings in Emacs, this seems like a daunting
> task: I even guess it has some ugly fuzzy borders: just blindly going
> by "places" in the keyboard brings up issues like CTRL-Z and CTRL-Y
> being switched for German layouts, and Germans would expect those bindings
> to "move" with the key labels instead of following "geometry". Likewise
> for French ("A" "Z" where usually "Q" and "W" are, etc).

This is bug#43830.  Patches welcome.