Want old "*compilation*" behavior back!

Want old "*compilation*" behavior back!

[Vincent Montressor]

I've looked through the NEWS files and comint.el/compile.el without luck, so 
....

I recently upgraded from Emacs 21 to 23.  In Emacs 21, if I split a window 
vertically and was in the left-hand buffer and did `M-x compile', the 
*compilation* buffer would appear in the right-hand buffer (unless the left-hand 
buffer was already *compilation*, in which case it would be reused).  In 
general, it put *compilation* in the "next" buffer unless there was only one 
buffer, in which case it would split the buffer.

In Emacs 23, it reuses the *compilation* buffer if that buffer is already 
visible, but otherwise it splits my current buffer instead of using the existing 
"next" buffer.

I liked the old behavior much better, but I don't see a way to get it back.  Any 
help?

Want old "*compilation*" behavior back!

[martin rudalics]

 > In Emacs 21, if I split a window
 > vertically and was in the left-hand buffer

... yet another argument to change the current vertical/horizontal
terminology ;-)

Please accept for the moment that splitting a window "vertically"
produces two windows above each other.  To get two windows side-by-side
you have to split a window "horizontally".

 > and did `M-x compile', the
 > *compilation* buffer would appear in the right-hand buffer (unless the
 > left-hand
 > buffer was already *compilation*, in which case it would be reused).  In
 > general, it put *compilation* in the "next" buffer unless there was only one
 > buffer, in which case it would split the buffer.

In the preceding lines you mean "window" instead of "buffer".

 > In Emacs 23, it reuses the *compilation* buffer if that buffer is already
 > visible, but otherwise it splits my current buffer instead of using the
 > existing
 > "next" buffer.

Does it happen with emacs -Q as well?  When on my trunk (which is a
couple of weeks old) I do emacs -Q, split the *scratch* window into two
side-by-side windows and do M-x compile, the right window is reused for
the *compilation* buffer.

 > I liked the old behavior much better, but I don't see a way to get it back.
 > Any
 > help?

It depends on whether you want a solution just for the compilation
buffer or a more general solution.  In the latter case, changing the
values of `split-height-threshold' or `split-width-threshold' might
help.

martin

Re: Want old "*compilation*" behavior back!

[Vincent Montressor]

Ah, you're right about the "buffer" vs. "window" and horizontal vs. vertical 
confusion; sorry about that.

But yes, it does the same unwanted thing with "emacs -Q" as well.  And it seems 
(from experimenting) that split-height/width-threshold don't control this.  Any 
other thoughts?

I would be 90% satisfied with just solving this for *compilation*, and close to 
100% satisfied if this got solved for *grep* as well.

(I'm encouraged that it doesn't seem to do this in the most recent builds, at 
least not for you.  Maybe this was just an aberration in the version I'm using?)




----- Original Message ----
From: martin rudalics <rudalics@gmx.at>
To: vmontressor@yahoo.com
Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
Sent: Sun, May 15, 2011 12:26:38 AM
Subject: Want old "*compilation*" behavior back!

> In Emacs 21, if I split a window
> vertically and was in the left-hand buffer

... yet another argument to change the current vertical/horizontal
terminology ;-)

Please accept for the moment that splitting a window "vertically"
produces two windows above each other.  To get two windows side-by-side
you have to split a window "horizontally".

> and did `M-x compile', the
> *compilation* buffer would appear in the right-hand buffer (unless the
> left-hand
> buffer was already *compilation*, in which case it would be reused).  In
> general, it put *compilation* in the "next" buffer unless there was only one
> buffer, in which case it would split the buffer.

In the preceding lines you mean "window" instead of "buffer".

> In Emacs 23, it reuses the *compilation* buffer if that buffer is already
> visible, but otherwise it splits my current buffer instead of using the
> existing
> "next" buffer.

Does it happen with emacs -Q as well?  When on my trunk (which is a
couple of weeks old) I do emacs -Q, split the *scratch* window into two
side-by-side windows and do M-x compile, the right window is reused for
the *compilation* buffer.

> I liked the old behavior much better, but I don't see a way to get it back.
> Any
> help?

It depends on whether you want a solution just for the compilation
buffer or a more general solution.  In the latter case, changing the
values of `split-height-threshold' or `split-width-threshold' might
help.

martin

Re: Want old "*compilation*" behavior back!

[martin rudalics]

 > Ah, you're right about the "buffer" vs. "window" and horizontal vs. vertical
 > confusion; sorry about that.

You're not the first one ;-)

 > But yes, it does the same unwanted thing with "emacs -Q" as well.  And it seems
 > (from experimenting) that split-height/width-threshold don't control this.  Any
 > other thoughts?
 >
 > I would be 90% satisfied with just solving this for *compilation*, and close to
 > 100% satisfied if this got solved for *grep* as well.
 >
 > (I'm encouraged that it doesn't seem to do this in the most recent builds, at
 > least not for you.  Maybe this was just an aberration in the version I'm using?)

I don't remember.  But I completely fail to understand that setting
`split-height-threshold' and `split-width-threshold' to nil or very
large values can allow `display-buffer' to split a window (unless
there's only one window on the frame).  Which values did you try?

martin

Re: Want old "*compilation*" behavior back!

[Vincent Montressor]

Ah-hah, you're right!  I just tried

        (setq split-height-threshold nil)

... and that seems to do the trick.  (Misunderstanding what it meant, I had 
tried setting it to small values; I hadn't tried large values or nil.)

I'll have to play with it some more to be sure, but I think I'm fixed.  Thank 
you!



----- Original Message ----
From: martin rudalics <rudalics@gmx.at>
To: vmontressor@yahoo.com
Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
Sent: Tue, May 17, 2011 8:17:51 AM
Subject: Re: Want old "*compilation*" behavior back!

> Ah, you're right about the "buffer" vs. "window" and horizontal vs. vertical
> confusion; sorry about that.

You're not the first one ;-)

> But yes, it does the same unwanted thing with "emacs -Q" as well.  And it 
seems
> (from experimenting) that split-height/width-threshold don't control this.  
Any
> other thoughts?
>
> I would be 90% satisfied with just solving this for *compilation*, and close 
to
> 100% satisfied if this got solved for *grep* as well.
>
> (I'm encouraged that it doesn't seem to do this in the most recent builds, at
> least not for you.  Maybe this was just an aberration in the version I'm 
>using?)

I don't remember.  But I completely fail to understand that setting
`split-height-threshold' and `split-width-threshold' to nil or very
large values can allow `display-buffer' to split a window (unless
there's only one window on the frame).  Which values did you try?

martin