Emacs startup options, Docker and the move to git

[Nic Ferrier <nferrier@ferrier.me.uk>]

I've been Dockerizing Emacs.

Docker is a GNU/Linux container system and very useful. 

For Emacs?? I hear you ask. Why yes, I reply. For testing and other
things like that. Also for rapid deployment of the server side of an
Emacs client/server app.

Docker runs a whole GNU/Linux init, it's very similar to a chroot. It
ends by calling some process which should hang and do whatever the point
of the Docker process was. For example, you might start a webserver. The
webserver should start in non-daemon mode, just hanging.

Now, coming to Emacs. There are two ways to run things in Emacs in
unattended mode: --batch  and --daemon

--batch is ideal for what it does I think, it starts with no init files
  and runs whatever you tell it and then quits

--daemon starts an Emacs process with a server started and immediately
  daemonizes it; backgrounding it and separating it from the terminal;
  init files ARE read and it's a normal Emacs session to all intents and
  purposes.


Neither of these is quite what I want with Docker. At the moment I am
using an Emacs daemon because I want a real Emacs session - one with init
files but no user interface.

But I would prefer to be able to start a headless Emacs process/session
and have it not daemonize. Do every thing that --daemon does except
actually daemonize. This doesn't seem possible.

This would also be useful for running Emacs in daemon situations where
something else is providing the daemonizing, supervisord for example, or
one of the new breed of init tools.

Does anyone know if we can do something like this?


Coming to the last point, what's the state of the git migration? 

I'd be happy to add a startup option, say --server, which would start a
server but not daemonize... but I don't want to get involved with
bzr. It's just another thing to remember (I am absolutely in that class
of people esr identified as a potential contributor who would act if
there was git).



Nic