Why is suspend-emacs enabled at all in GUI mode?
reddit / emacs

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thetemp_ · 2022-08-14 18:41

I already have the C-z binding disabled.  But I was debugging a
problem with my init file which hadn't loaded completely, had the
problem halfway solved but then accidentally suspended the Emacs GUI.
Now I have to restart Emacs and redo that work for no good reason.

Being able to suspend Emacs from a terminal makes sense, but why does
this feature exist at all when running it in a GUI? If anything, it
seems like some kind of practical joke.

There doesn't seem to be any way to recover the previous state of the
program.  I already tried all the suggestions on [this
page](https://superuser.com/questions/349943/how-to-awake-emacs-gui-
after-pressing-ctrlz).

I'm sure I can't be the first to complain about this. Would a bug
report be a waste of time?

EDIT: I meant `suspend-frame` (can't edit titles on Reddit).

EDIT2 (Update): It's only the Emacs master-branch which I compile from
the git-cloned source that becomes completely unresponsive.

If I'm using Emacs 28.1 on the same desktop/OS and press C-z, it
merely iconifies the frame.

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thevoidzero · 2022-08-14 19:17

I also click it sometimes, I just move the focus to another window and
back and the suspend is gone. I'm on i3.

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ieure · 2022-08-14 19:23

It's been a really long time since I've had a workflow like this, but
IIRC it used to iconify the current frame.

I also have it disabled.

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eleven_cupfuls · 2022-08-14 19:50

To be precise it actually invokes `suspend-frame`:
https://github.com/emacs-
mirror/emacs/blob/master/etc/NEWS.23#L1007-L1008

Personally I just rebind it as a shortcut for `C-x 5`.

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xtifr · 2022-08-14 20:47

Cannot reproduce: when I press C-z in GUI mode, it merely
minimizes/iconifies the frame. Just tried with "emacs -q" to make sure
nothing in my config was affecting it, and sure enough, it still just
minimized.

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thetemp_ · 2022-08-14 22:16

It may be something to do with how it interacts with KDE.  IIRC, what
you describe is what would happen when I used Gnome.

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thetemp_ · 2022-08-14 22:18

I think when I used Gnome it acted that way, but ever since switching
to KDE I can't bring it back afterwards.  I can bring the window back
up, but it's completely unresponsive.  Same thing if I start Emacs
with `emacs -Q` and press C-z.

EDIT: If I run Emacs on Gnome in a Debian VM, I can C-z and focus the
frame again, and continue using Emacs.  Not so on my Fedora Kinoite
desktop. Hmm.

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db48x · 2022-08-15 08:37

That sounds like a bug, honestly. Use `M-x report-emacs-bug` to send
in a bug report.

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timmymayes · 2022-08-15 19:14

I just rebound C-z to undo and called it a day.

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StrangeAstronomer · 2022-08-16 08:56

I reckon this must be one of the biggest discouragements for emacs
newbies. "I typed something but made a mistake and hit \^z and the
whole thing locked up. Had to kill emacs and I lost everything"