(unknown)

[Greg Minshall <minshall@umich.edu>]

hi.  i would like to be able to write Emacs scripts ("#!...") that allow
a user to enter almost any option to the script itself, *without* having
to use double dashes ("--") to avoid colliding with Emacs option
processing.

looking at "--script" and "-x", this doesn't seem possible.

as a test case, given a simple script foo.sh (*), using "-x", and
invoking it with an option "--eval" gives this error:

----
% ./foo.sh --eval
emacs: Option '--eval' requires an argument
----

(that bare "--eval" *should* be an error if it were meant for Emacs
itself; however, it is meant for the Emacs script, which may have other
ideas of the syntax/semantics of "--eval".)

the below patch to src/emacs.c (**) treats a "-x" (and its "partner"
"-scripteval") like a "--" on the command line, and *seems* to allow
arbitrary options on the command line.  for example, with this patch
installed:

----
% ./foo.sh --eval
command-line-args-left (--eval)
----


i wonder if this might be of use for Emacs?  if there are worries about
backwards compatibility with "-x", well ... "-y" anybody?  :)

(i was thinking of writing a test to go with the patch, but the ERT
framework is maybe a bit awkward for tests of essentially
shell-command-line functionality.  i may have missed it, but i didn't
see anything in ./test/Makefile.in that seemed to be aimed at testing
command-line invocation of Emacs.)

cheers, Greg


(*) foo.sh
----
#!/usr/bin/env -S emacs -x

(message "command-line-args-left %s" command-line-args-left)

1
----


(**) proposed patch
----
diff --git a/src/emacs.c b/src/emacs.c
index 6101ed4004c..6e140177086 100644
--- a/src/emacs.c
+++ b/src/emacs.c
@@ -2795,9 +2795,10 @@ sort_args (int argc, char **argv)
        {
          int match;

-         /* If we have found "--", don't consider
-            any more arguments as options.  */
-         if (argv[from][1] == '-' && argv[from][2] == 0)
+         /* If we have found "--", or a "-x", don't consider any more
+            arguments as options.  */
+         if ((((argv[from][1] == '-') || (argv[from][1] == 'x')) && argv[from][2] == 0)
+             || !strcmp(argv[from], "-scripteval"))
            {
              /* Leave the "--", and everything following it, at the end.  */
              for (; from < argc; from++)
----