Default translation rule changes in v0.6.0 and how to use v0.5.0 rules

[susam]

The default translation rules have changed in Devil v0.6.0. In v0.5.0 and earlier, the Devil key sequence , m translates to C-M- and the key sequence , m m translates to M-. This was found to be counterintuitive by some users because it took more effort to type M- than it took to type C-M-. For example, we needed to type only , m s to mean C-M-s but we needed to type , m m x to mean M-x.

Devil v0.6.0 now translates , m to M- and , m m to C-M-. As a result, we need to type only , m x for M-x and , m m s for C-M-s. This makes the key sequence that is shorter in vanilla Emacs, shorter using Devil too.

Although I know from discussions in the Libera IRC #emacs channel that there are users who would welcome this change, it is possible that some users may dislike this change and may want to revert to the original default translation rules from v0.5.0. To do so, add the following Elisp code to the Emacs initialisation file:

(setq devil-translations '(("%k z" . "C-")
                           ("%k %k" . "%k")
                           ("%k m m" . "M-")
                           ("m z" . "M-")
                           ("m m" . "m")
                           ("%k" . "C-")
                           ("m" . "M-")))

Section Default Translation Rules of the manual has been updated with the new translation rules.

Devil v0.6.0 is now available on MELPA. It will be made available on MELPA Stable and NonGNU ELPA in about a week or so.

[susam]

Devil v0.6.0 was released on Sun, 30 Jul 2023. See https://github.com/susam/devil/releases/tag/0.6.0 for release notes.