Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!usc!bloom-beacon!SUN.COM!dshr
From: dshr@SUN.COM (David Rosenthal)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Inventing A Shift Key
Message-ID: <8909112116.AA02930@devnull.sun.com>
Date: 11 Sep 89 21:10:35 GMT
Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 19

The interpretation of keys is entirely up to the client.
The Sun server is correctly reporting that:

-	There is a key marked "Num Lock"
-	When pressed,  it goes down
-	When released,  it comes up (i.e. it doesn't physically lock down)

Thus,  the clients find out what the actual state of the keyboard is.
This is what the designers of the X protocol intended.  How clients
interpret this information is up to them.  For example,  if they
decide to let down (or up) transitions of this key toggle their
interpretation of other key events between a normal and a "Num Lock"
interpretation,  that is up to them.

To sum up,  the way to change the way keys are interpreted is to change
the clients.  Persuading the server to lie to its clients about the
state of the keyboard is a very bad idea.

	David.