Re: GDB startup

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

>> Would it be possible to "do it in the background", maybe?

> I'm not sure what you mean.  GDB runs asynchronously from Emacs, so all
> commands sent to it *do* run in the background.  Maybe, because there is
> so much input and output, you can't get the prompt so it feels like its
> running in foreground.

I understand that it's not clear what I mean by "in the background" (that's
why I put it between quotes): I understand that those commands are sent
asynchronously and so Emacs is not stuck waiting, but gdb is kept
sufficiently busy that the prompt doesn't appear.

> Presumably a lot of your buffers aren't visible

Indeed the large majority of my buffers are in iconified frames.

> which makes me wonder whether its possible to have
> a when-buffer-becomes-visible-hook?

I guess post-command-hook is the closest thing.

Maybe another approach is to limit the buffers that are considered to some
set of major modes, or to some subtree of the filesystem.  But neither seems
quite practical.

Another alternative could be to handle the files/buffers "slowly", with
a 0.5s delay between each file/buffer, starting with the buffers that are
currently visible.

> A more practical solution might be to limit the number of buffers/files
> (its probably the latter which takes most time) that Emacs considers.
> Clearly, what is a sensible number would depend on the speed of the
> computer (I think that perhaps you have a clunky machine).

2GB, 1.4GHz Opteron.  It's not the bestest and greatest, but it hardly
qualifies as clunky.

> Generally, how many buffers do you have open with files in them?

Anywhere between 20 and 100.  Let's say in the 50s.


        Stefan