Derived mode without merging keymap

Question

It seems that when using define-derived-mode, the new mode's keymap is merged with that of the parent mode. Is there a way to avoid this? That is, to inherit font-lock, etc. from the parent mode, but have a completely new keymap.

E.g.

(defvar foo-mode-map
  (let ((map (copy-keymap special-mode-map)))
    (define-key map (kbd "n") #'next-line)
    (define-key map (kbd "p") #'previous-line)
    map)
  "Keymap for foo-mode.")

(define-derived-mode foo-mode java-mode "Foo"
  "Major mode derived from `java-mode'.

\\{foo-mode-map}")

I'd like foo-mode to use foo-mode-map without any key sequences from java-mode-map.

Answer 1

From the manual (elisp) Derived Modes, define-derived-mode defines keymaps using the following rules:

The new mode has its own sparse keymap, named ‘VARIANT-map’. ‘define-derived-mode’ makes the parent mode’s keymap the parent of the new map, unless ‘VARIANT-map’ is already set and already has a parent.

You've used copy-keymap to create your keymap, and this doesn't set a parent keymap. If you do that explicitly, your new keymap won't inherit from java-mode:

(defvar foo-mode-map
  (let ((map (copy-keymap special-mode-map)))
    (define-key map (kbd "n") #'next-line)
    (define-key map (kbd "p") #'previous-line)
     ;; Set parent map for foo-mode-map:
    (set-keymap-parent map special-mode-map)
     map)
  "Keymap for foo-mode.")

(define-derived-mode foo-mode java-mode "Foo"
  "Major mode derived from `java-mode'.

\\{foo-mode-map}")