alt-key problem with emacs only (Macos X 10.4.8)

[Joerg Mertins]

Hi there,

I have a problem with my emacs alt-key to which I could not find (or 
recognize? - I am not an expert) a solution on the emacs help pages.

When I start X (versions see below), key bindings as modifies in .xinitrc 
work fine in the terminal window, in any other x-application (as far as I 
can tell) as well as with "emacs -nw". When emacs is being launched 
without options, opening in a seperate window, it works fine except for 
the alt-key. Pressing it and any letter key does nothing, though it should 
produce e.g. "at" upon simultaniously pressing "L" (as it does in my x 
terminal). Pressing alt-spacebar results in opening of the x-windows menu. 
(Does this give a clue?)

What seems strange to me is that my emacs setup worked just fine with the 
very same user-defined config files but previous, about-3-year-old 
versions of the programs mentioned below. Not loading any config file, 
e.g. "emacs -q", doesnt help either.

I use Macos x Tiger 10.4.8 with XDarwin 1.4a1, icewm 1.2.2-2 and emacs 
21.2-1026; these are the latest versions as they are available through 
"System Update" and the fink program. Fink does not complain about unmet 
dependencies or anythimg else.

Thanks a lot for any hints,
Joe