Re: Change Tramp syntax

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@IRO.UMontreal.CA>]

> Maybe we shall start a poll, in emacs-devel, emacs-help and
> tramp-devel. We should not ask what a user prefers (many of them will
> prefer not to type a method). They question must be what will be broken
> if we stop support for ange-ftp syntax "/host:/path/to/file".

Actually, there are several options, for example:
1- Get rid of ange-ftp syntax altogether, like you propose.
2- Keep the syntax, but only when it doesn't collide with the
   Tramp syntax.  I.e. /fencepost:foo will still be allowed, but
   if you want to access a host named "ssh" you'll need something like
   /ftp:ssh:foo or /ssh:ssh:foo or /ssh.domain:foo or /user@ssh:foo.
   I.e. /foo: will only be considered ange-ftp syntax if `foo` is not a method.
3- Like 2 but treat /foo:./bar and /foo:/bar as an ange-ftp syntax even if
   `foo` is a method.

I never use ange-ftp syntax (although I only ever use the `ssh` method),
so I could live with 1 (and it sure would simplify the code), but I'm in
favor of option 2 because I think it is the simplest option that still
preserves the main benefit of the ange-ftp syntax (i.e. the default
method).

> This would also mean, that we cannot support default methods anymore. A
> file name with a default method would look like "/:host:/path/to/file",
> which is already the quoted file name syntax.

If really needed we could use something like `/-:host:`.


        Stefan