Bugzilla – Bug 143080
Provide a keyboard profile with Delete->DEL and Backspace->BS
Last modified: 2006-01-26 11:22:00 UTC
In the days when it was relatively easy to maintain my own keyboard mappings, I always mapped my (unmistakably NOT VT104) PC style keyboard as above. What you see is what you get. The "Remove" mapping for the Delete key, and the DEL mapping for the Backspace key always caused me problems in application with readline interfaces. SuSE may have addressed this problem with the distributed /etc/inputrc; I haven't determined that yet. An option to set these keys up in that way would be greatly appreciated.
How did you remap the keys?
No feedback --> WONTFIX.
Sorry for the lack of feedback, but I again did not see Comment #1. Your replies came back so quickly that I thought it was my original report. Congratulations. The distributed XFree86 xterm included the ^H mapping for the 'kbs' key function in the terminfo database (and still does). I would remove the distribution-modified xterm file (I used to run redhat), and restore the Xfree86 version, changing the 'dch' (I think) to ~177. I would then make similar changes to the "linux" console entry in terminfo. infocmp was useful for the comparisons.
reopening ...
I think this is something for Werner.
I'll not support broken configuratiuons. The backspace key is used for DELETE character left from cursor and this is ASCII delete. The Delete key is used for erease the character under the cursor. You may use the scripts /usr/X11R6/bin/Backarrow2BackSpace to switch for xterm to the broken setup and the script /usr/X11R6/bin/Backarrow2Delete to get the correct setup back. The konsole has its own configuration GUI for this but you have to run the stty commands on your own. For the Backarrow2BackSpace this is stty erase '^H' and the other case is stty erase '^?' And do never change the mappings of the X key mapping because non terminal application then have a wrong setting.
Werner, I don't expect to change your religious convictions on this. Feel free to ignore my further comments. I agree that the backspace key is used for delete-char-left, and the Delete key is used for delete-char-right, if the cursor is understood to lie between characters. IIRC, this usage itself derives from the layout of PC keyboards, and the semantics assigned by IBM/Microsoft. I, likewise, have religious convictions. The 'A' key on my keyboard generates and ascii 'a' and an ascii 'A' if prodded. Enter (aka Return) produces ascii CR, Tab produces ascii HT, Escape produces ascii ESC. I expect, then, that my Backspace key will produce ascii BS, and that my Delete key will produce ascii DEL. There is a little world of interpretation and mapping between the value produced by the key and the action taken by an application. That's understood. I just like to know that to get my Delete key to perform some action, I map DEL, and for the Backspace key, I map BS. Generally, apart from stty erase '^H', I haven't needed to do much else. On the topic of my liking for broken mappings, there's another one I want to break. The X key description now includes PageUp and PageDown. Current mappings of the keys named, e.g., PgUp and PgDn, are Prev and Next, going back again to venerable VT terminal roots. There are not as yet, I believe, key names PageBefore/After, PageLeft/Right or PagePrev/Next. On my ThinkPad keyboard I have, with the cursor block, icon-bearing keys best tranlated as PageLeft and PageRight; so-called internet keys. They are common on TPs of recent vintage. Given the restricted naming choices, I would opt for PgUp->PageUp, PgDn->PageDown, PageLeft->Prev and PageRight->Next.