[xmonad] automatically generating template xmonad.hs if it doesn't exist

[gwern0 at gmail.com]

On 2008.01.05 12:05:18 +0100, Joachim Breitner <mail at joachim-breitner.de> scribbled 2.1K characters:
> Hi,
>
> Am Freitag, den 04.01.2008, 22:24 +0000 schrieb Thomas Adam:
> > Hello --
> >
> > On 04/01/2008, gwern0 at gmail.com <gwern0 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > # Does it *have* to be mod1Mask? It makes more sense to steal Alt than Ctrl, I'll grant, but stealing the useless Windows is even better since even fewer apps use that; I notice that there are at least 4 or 5 configs on the wiki which change mod1Mask to mod4Mask.
> >
> > I'd argue yes, seeing as the Windows key is not a ubiquitous key on
> > all keyboards.  Leaving it as Alt, whilst potentially annoying for
> > some users, is tough, IMO.  :)
>
> We could be more bold, without overriding existing key combinations, and
> remap the CapsLock key (which most people don’t use) to a modifier key
> and use that per default. It’s what I’m doing :-)
>
> PRO:
>  * Does not conflict with other Ctrl or Alt bindings.
>  * Quite a handy spot on the keyboard.
>  * Most people don’t use the CapsLock.
>
> CON:
>  * Some already remap that key
>    (but they are power users that most likely modify their xmonad config
>     anyways)
>  * Some might actually want to USE THE CAPSLOCK KEY :-)
>  * It might be a bit less intuitive than the Alt key.
>
> Greetings,
> Joachim

As much as I hate to rain on this suggestion (since I was the one who said, 'Hey! Let's steal the Win-key! What could go wrong?'), I don't think this would really work.

I dunno about your pros and cons, but this strikes me as a difficult task. I've ported my configuration files among several computers/OSs by this point, and as many keyboards - and in general, figuring out what is the capslock keyboard and then using it seems to be pretty hard. I eventually gave up on using .xmodmap and began configuring the Caps-as-Ctrl through the installation process.

It certainly would be neat if we could somehow build in a facility to try to steal Win if it existed, Caps if it existed, and then fall back to Alt... but I don't know of anyway to build that into the core in any easy way (although I haven't looked too hard through the X11 library, so feel free to correct me).

--
gwern
GSM Submarine E. 510 ddnp building y friends RDI JCET
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