[Pkg-urxvt-maintainers] Bug#469344: rxvt-unicode: Modified function keys break ECMA-48 and are non-extensible

[Marc Lehmann]

Difficult to reply to such a trollpost, but still, here it goes:

> rxvt's sequences for modifed function keys are non-standard,

The relevant standard here is vt100, as urxvt is a vt100 emulator (within
reason). It doesn't even aim to implement ecma-48 fully. It does aim to
be compatible to rxvt and vt100, and is considerably closer to both than
xterm or any crap based on vte.

> non-extensible

They have been extended in the past, multiple times, so this is obviously
untrue. You are just making an empty claim here.

> and break ECMA-48.

You should read it sometimes - ecma-48 doesn't govern key codes, it is
concerned about command sequences from originating devices (e.g. apps) and
receiving devices (urxvt).

Specifically, command sequences are send *to* rxvt-unicode, and
rxvt-unicode sends key codes or command replies, neither of which are
(wisely) not part of ecma-48.

You simply confuse input and output here - the terminal emulator doesn't
send command sequences such as "clear screen" to the application, it's the
other way round.

If you still disagree, please quote which section of ecma-48 is broken by
what in urxvt.

> If rxvt adopted this scheme instead of its own custom format, then

Thats bullshit, there is nothing "custom" about this, but decades of
history and backwards compatibility with existing devices and programs -
you should research your bug reports better before making these kind of
all encompassing statements that can be easily disproven by reading the
docs, ecma-48, or even searching the web for a bit.

The only custom format here is the one you are suggesting, which isn't
even part of ecma-48...

What you ask for will simply break all existing applications that
rely on these codes in one go and cause pain for end users for many
years to come. While it might be more convenient for you to have other
keycodes, running around and shouting ecma-48 without even having the most
basic understanding of what that document says and asking for urxvt to
single-handedly break established application protocols (and applications)
is not useful.

Note also that you can configure most of these codes yourself, see the
urxvt(1) manpage.

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