From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Luc Teirlinck Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel,gmane.emacs.bugs Subject: some dired hints should be background jobs Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 21:41:35 -0600 (CST) Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <200303010341.VAA06801@eel.dms.auburn.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1046490136 14145 80.91.224.249 (1 Mar 2003 03:42:16 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 03:42:16 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 18oxsl-0003et-00 for ; Sat, 01 Mar 2003 04:41:51 +0100 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 18oyAS-0003B4-00 for ; Sat, 01 Mar 2003 05:00:08 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.10.13) id 18oxrz-0005du-0D for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Fri, 28 Feb 2003 22:41:03 -0500 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.10.13) id 18oxro-0005ab-00 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 28 Feb 2003 22:40:52 -0500 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.10.13) id 18oxri-0005Q0-00 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 28 Feb 2003 22:40:47 -0500 Original-Received: from manatee.dms.auburn.edu ([131.204.53.104]) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.10.13) id 18oxrf-0005PI-00; Fri, 28 Feb 2003 22:40:43 -0500 Original-Received: from eel.dms.auburn.edu (eel.dms.auburn.edu [131.204.53.108]) by manatee.dms.auburn.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id VAA27557; Fri, 28 Feb 2003 21:40:42 -0600 (CST) Original-Received: (from teirllm@localhost) by eel.dms.auburn.edu (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.3) id VAA06801; Fri, 28 Feb 2003 21:41:35 -0600 (CST) X-Authentication-Warning: eel.dms.auburn.edu: teirllm set sender to teirllm@dms.auburn.edu using -f Original-To: jidanni@dman.ddts.net Original-cc: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1b5 Precedence: list List-Id: Emacs development discussions. List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Archive: List-Unsubscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:12044 gmane.emacs.bugs:4533 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.bugs:4533 Dan Jacobson wrote: idea, in dired with the cursor on a .pdf file, when we hit ! we get ! on man.pdf: [xpdf] [by the way, I just copy-and-pasted that line from the minibuffer prompt into this message and can't edit it one bit!] OK, but better a better default would be running xpdf in the background, for which the user has to type "xpdf * &" which BTW creates an distracting Async window. Yes, all that can be customized on one's own. The `v' command (in dired) currently will run xpdf and friends in the foreground, making it impossible to continue using emacs without killing the xpdf job. I agree that background would be better. Changing the default of ! to run background jobs seems trivial, but one would be stuck with the Async window popping up, which I agree is distracting. I also believe it is usually useless. If one inadvertently kills the useless buffer, the background job is gone too. I myself have M-RETURN bound (in dired) to a command that will run xpdf and friends in the background, without any Async window appearing. A separate window (or frame) is created if necessary to display output generated by the process, such as error messages and the like, but only if necessary. (Usually it is not.) If people would agree that this would be a good idea, I could send code for a command that would either replace the `v' binding or would have a new binding, say M-RETURN or whatever. I could not just use my own current code literally, since it would have to be stripped of personal idiosyncrasies, but I do not believe that would be difficult to do. Sincerely, Luc.