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Date:      Fri, 10 Mar 1995 15:00:49 -0800 (PST)
From:      "Rodney W. Grimes" <rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com>
To:        joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de
Cc:        freebsd-current@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: backspace now broken (proposal)
Message-ID:  <199503102300.PAA02676@gndrsh.aac.dev.com>
In-Reply-To: <199503101919.UAA11516@uriah.heep.sax.de> from "J Wunsch" at Mar 10, 95 08:19:56 pm

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> 
> As Michael Elbel wrote:
> > 
> > Joerg said that there's other console drivers than syscons that have
> > DEL generated by the BS key and that because of this the default erase
> > char shouldn't be changed. [...]
> 
> Did you remember that pcvt is also running on other systems (NetBSD,
> and even 386BSD)?  So it would be highly unwise to change its default
> behaviour.  I doubt the NetBSD folks would agree with our change, just
> since one of the dozen platforms they used to support had the
> speciality that a well-known program loader running prior to BSD there
> on a single (out of the dozen) architecture used to go with ^H for the
> default erase character.  Hence, pcvt certainly _won't_ change its
> default behaviour.  (And should FreeBSD do, reverting this will be the
> first patch i'll put into my personal ``apply this immediately on
> every new release'' area.  I never even missed the ^H by now.)

FreeBSD 2.0 shipped with the ``<-, Backspace'' key generating ^H, syscons
until very recently generated ^H for that key!

> Call for consistency, ok.  But then remember, it was just syscons that
> once broke the consistency of the system.  (All console drivers prior
> to syscons used DEL to erase, hence they agreed with the ttydefaults.)

I already shown the cvs logs on the mailling lists that make this statement
untrue.

> If we're going to change the default erase character by now, when
> FreeBSD is almost two years old, of course, one half of our users will
> be silenced (the half that used to complain about DEL), but don't
> underestimate the other half: ``My delete key doesn't work any longer!
> All the time, i'm getting this ^H^H^H shit on my screen!  Who did
> break this?  Now i have to change my .login's on a dozen of machines!
> Why did'ya change this?''

It has already been changed once from ^? -> ^H and now back to ^? just
1 week ago.  That is after all what sparked this whole thing to raise
it's head once again.

> Do you still think it's worth the trouble?  It's only that the kind
> of questions will change, not the amount.

You are being religous, this is a religous thing.  It still boils down
to what character code the ``<-, backspace'' key should generate.  We
have 3 keys right now that generate ^?, it would really be nice to have
one that generated ^H without having to hit 2 keys (control & H or
shift & <-,backspace).


-- 
Rod Grimes                                      rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com
Accurate Automation Company                   Custom computers for FreeBSD



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