[Idle-dev] IDLE on Linux - any known probs

[Guido van Rossum]

> Lazy approach:  I've got really really bad
> connectivity this week.  Before I go hunting
> through a (groan) web-based interface for
> bugs, are there any known issues with the
> IDLE that comes with Python 2.0 when running
> on Linux?

There's no specific bug tracker for IDLE, and I don't recall seeing
many IDLE bugs in the Python bug tracker at SourceForge.

> I'm doing a class this week where we've got
> both Linux machines and Win2000... IDLE is
> doing some odd things, most of them not following
> its' own keyboard shortcuts, on Linux (RH 6.2
> and Mandrake 7.0). Both installed from the
> BeOpen*rpms ....  Nary a problem on Windows,
> which, *natch*, is where I did the bulk of
> my testing...
> 
> (F5 and ctrl-F5 do nothing; Alt-W is claimed
> to be Cut but actually pops up the Window
> menu, etc. and trying to use the menu to run a file
> is problematic too:  IDLE always thinks the
> buffer is modified if you do that, so you have
> to first select-all before you can run.. Sigh)

The Alt-W problem is confirmed; this is due to ambiguities in the key
bindings.  You'll have to live with Cut using the menu, or you can
tweak it to use the Windows bindings.  (Sorry, I can't tell you how to
do this, but it should be pretty easy.)

I haven't seen a problem with the complaint about the buffer being
modified, but I know of a confusing feature that might be related: if
the current window is the *Python Shell* window, it always says that.
(You have to click in the module's window before running it.)

The problem with F5 or Ctl-F5 not working may be due to your window
manager catching those keys.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)