RE: Q on using shell mode remotely

["Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

    > If Emacs can see the remote files, then Emacs (and ftp) could
    > interface them to the local shell.

    M-x shell simply runs a local shell as a subprocess, making its input
    come from what you type in the buffer, and its output redirected to a
    pipe that feeds the buffer.  But the program which does the job when
    you type "cd" is still the local shell, not Emacs.  So it's the shell
    that needs to support some kind of remote file syntax, or else Emacs
    will have no way of communicating to the shell that it (the shell)
    should work on remote files.

If the shell is simply plugged in directly, then the shell is simply plugged
in directly. QED.

However, if cd can be interpreted by Emacs in other buffers to support
remote file syntax, then Emacs could do the same in a shell buffer. I'm not
saying it would be easy to do that, or that other problems wouldn't arise if
that were done, but input could be prefiltered and interpreted by Emacs,
before sending it to the shell process. IOW, instead of simply redirecting
input from the buffer, an intermediary could massage the input. No, I'm not
proposing an implementation; maybe someone else will ;-). If Tarantella can
do it, Emacs can do it better, I figure. ;-).