bug#1975: Reusing dead shell buffers

bug#1975: Reusing dead shell buffers

[Chong Yidong]

> Just a tiny patch for shell.
>
> The patch assumes that the person launching M-xshell while in a
> shell-mode buffer with a terminated process really wants to launch a
> shell process in the current buffer instead to switch to "*shell*".
>
> The semantics of C-uM-xshell are not changed by the patch.

Could you explain why you think this is necessary?  The current
behavior, where M-x shell reuses the *shell* buffer, seems fine.

bug#1975: Reusing dead shell buffers

[Jose E. Marchesi]

    > Just a tiny patch for shell.
    >
    > The patch assumes that the person launching M-xshell while in a
    > shell-mode buffer with a terminated process really wants to launch a
    > shell process in the current buffer instead to switch to "*shell*".
    >
    > The semantics of C-uM-xshell are not changed by the patch.
    
    Could you explain why you think this is necessary?  The current
    behavior, where M-x shell reuses the *shell* buffer, seems fine.

Just consider the situation where you use different shells
simultaneously with meaningful names.  For example, debugging an
application: shell-daemon, shell-mmi and shell-gdb.

If I want to restart the shell that is running in shell-gdb, I usually
Ctrl-D to terminate it and then I reuse the buffer.  Without the patch
I have to C-uM-xshell and then type shell-gdb.

bug#1975: Reusing dead shell buffers

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Jose E. Marchesi <jemarch@gnu.org> writes:

> If I want to restart the shell that is running in shell-gdb, I usually
> Ctrl-D to terminate it and then I reuse the buffer.  Without the patch
> I have to C-uM-xshell and then type shell-gdb.

Currently `C-u M-x shell' defaults to "*shell*", which seems pretty
nonsensical.  Surely if the user wanted to use that buffer, then she
would have just typed `M-x shell'.

So perhaps `C-u M-x shell' should just default to the current buffer
instead?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  bloggy blog http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/

bug#1975: Reusing dead shell buffers

[Chong Yidong]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Currently `C-u M-x shell' defaults to "*shell*", which seems pretty
> nonsensical.  Surely if the user wanted to use that buffer, then she
> would have just typed `M-x shell'.
>
> So perhaps `C-u M-x shell' should just default to the current buffer
> instead?

Agreed.  Implemented in trunk.