Re: Looking for some recommended configurations for desktop-save-mode and savehist-mode.

[Hongyi Zhao <hongyi.zhao@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 2:44 AM Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> wrote:
>
> Not sure what the original question was, but
> I'll add this info to the discussion, in case
> it helps.
>
> Besides explicitly or implicitly saving the
> desktop, you can _bookmark_ a desktop.
>
> The vanilla desktop code (desktop.el) doesn't
> make it easy to have multiple desktop files,
> and it doesn't provide for more than one
> desktop file per directory.
>
> There's absolutely no reason that a desktop
> file should be tied to a directory.  But that
> limitation is built into what desktop.el
> provides and expects.  It's a poor design,
> but it's never been fixed.
>
> To bookmark desktops you need Bookmark+.
>
> Bookmark+ defines command `bmkp-desktop-read',
> which loads a desktop file.  And command
> `bmkp-desktop-change-dir', which clears the
> current desktop and changes to a desktop file
> you're prompted for.  And function
> `bmkp-desktop-save' saves the current desktop
> to a given file.
>
> Such additions, which facilitate using
> multiple desktop files are simple and trivial.
> I've proposed that desktop.el offer the same
> or similar, but that suggestion and request
> has fallen on deaf ears.
>
> That, in itself, doesn't even have anything
> to do with bookmarks.  Why is it needed?  To
> be able to flexibly create and use multiple
> desktop files, located anywhere.
>
> All that's recorded for a desktop is saved
> in a file.  Hard-code associating that with
> some directory doesn't help in any way; it's
> just a hindrance, IMO.
>
> A desktop bookmark just records a desktop
> file.  So these desktop enhancements also
> facilitate having desktop bookmarks.
>
> Desktop bookmarks let you switch among
> desktops by hitting a key - jump among
> different bookmarks.
>
> Emacs desktops can save lots of kinds of
> state, including buffers (and their points,
> marks, and local variables), files, windows,
> frames, and variables.
>
> (Bookmark+ also lets you save and restore
> other bits of state, e.g. sets of variables,
> by jumping to bookmarks.)
>
> https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/BookmarkPlus
>
> https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/BookmarkPlus#DesktopBookmarks

Thank you so much for letting me know this.

Best regards,
-- 
Assoc. Prof. Hongyi Zhao <hongyi.zhao@gmail.com>
Theory and Simulation of Materials
Hebei Polytechnic University of Science and Technology engineering
NO. 552 North Gangtie Road, Xingtai, China