"system-process-attributes" function name

"system-process-attributes" function name

[Miles Bader]

I just noticed this new function (from a msg by Thierry Volpiatto), and
wonder -- why the funny prefix "system-"?  It seems both misleading
(a "system process" is typically one that's running as root, and the
question that immediately comes to mind is "how do I get the attributes
of a user process?") and unnecessary.

Why not just call it `process-attributes', and accept either a pid or an
emacs process descriptor?  That would be easy to implement, and would be
both more convenient and easier to find for programmers.

[I haven't looked at the other "system-process" functions, but
a similar comment might apply to them.]

-Miles

-- 
Americans are broad-minded people.  They'll accept the fact that a person can
be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a newspaperman, but if
a man doesn't drive, there is something wrong with him.  -- Art Buchwald

Re: "system-process-attributes" function name

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Miles Bader <miles.bader@necel.com>
> Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:40:06 +0900
> 
> I just noticed this new function (from a msg by Thierry Volpiatto), and
> wonder -- why the funny prefix "system-"?

Because unfortunately the "process-" prefix is used by many Emacs
primitives that only handle Emacs subprocesses, not just any arbitrary
process running on the machine.

I agree that it is slightly awkward, but I thought confusing that with
Emacs subprocess support was a greater evil, and at least Roland
Winker, the author of proced.el, which is the primary user of these
new primitives, suggested the same names.

> [I haven't looked at the other "system-process" functions, but
> a similar comment might apply to them.]

There's only one more: list-system-processes.