Emacs auto-modes and tabs

[bscott at ntisys.com]

Hello world,

  I'm hoping to cash in a stupid question coupon here...  :-)

  Red Hat 7.3 with Emacs 21.2.1.

  On my pee cee, GNU Emacs automatically detects various file types and sets
the major mode appropriately.  For example, if I edit a shell script, it
automatically sets "shell-script-mode".  Which is fine -- it turns on syntax
highlighting and other magic.

  However, it does one thing which drives me absolutely bonkers: It causes
the [Tab] key to do something other than insert tabs.  For example,
sometimes it inserts spaces, or does sort of auto-align/auto-indent thing.

  My current solution is "M-x fundamental-mode", but I regard that as a bit
heavy-handed.  Is there some way to globally tell Emacs to leave my freaking
[Tab] key alone, while leaving everything else working the way it is?

-- 
Ben Scott           | Net Technologies, Inc.  | 978-462-8795
Network Engineer    | Salisbury, MA, USA      | 866-NTI-LINUX (684-5468)
bscott at ntilinux.com | http://www.ntilinux.com | Fax: 978-499-7839