From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: John Wiegley Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: small Eshell docfix Date: Sun, 05 Sep 2004 23:47:03 -0700 Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Message-ID: References: <20040901231417.GD29664@fencepost> <1c4qmgo3l4.fsf@tiscali.de> NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1094453250 21131 80.91.224.253 (6 Sep 2004 06:47:30 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 06:47:30 +0000 (UTC) Cc: rms@gnu.org, eclig@gmx.net Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Sep 06 08:47:21 2004 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1C4DHc-000111-00 for ; Mon, 06 Sep 2004 08:47:20 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.33) id 1C4DMm-00041g-NB for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 06 Sep 2004 02:52:40 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.33) id 1C4DMg-00041L-Fy for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 06 Sep 2004 02:52:34 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.33) id 1C4DMd-00040w-M5 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 06 Sep 2004 02:52:34 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.33) id 1C4DMd-00040l-GI for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 06 Sep 2004 02:52:31 -0400 Original-Received: from [66.111.4.30] (helo=frontend1.messagingengine.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1C4DHF-0002Uz-Ik; Mon, 06 Sep 2004 02:46:57 -0400 X-Sasl-enc: d4ZdakFHspl1WL4sMe05BA 1094453217 Original-Received: from Majnun.local (adsl-67-126-114-27.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net [67.126.114.27]) by frontend1.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id DCC5BC15429; Mon, 6 Sep 2004 02:46:56 -0400 (EDT) Original-Received: by Majnun.local (Postfix, from userid 501) id 3DC103CC7D4; Sun, 5 Sep 2004 23:47:03 -0700 (PDT) Original-To: emacs-devel@gnu.org In-Reply-To: <1c4qmgo3l4.fsf@tiscali.de> (Emilio Lopes's message of "Thu, 02 Sep 2004 21:47:35 +0200") User-Agent: Gnus/5.110003 (No Gnus v0.3) Emacs/21.3.50 (darwin) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:26816 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:26816 Emilio Lopes writes: > Eshell doesn't accept `\' as directory separator. An besides the > command interpreter in MS Windows doesn't has such a function > (quoting to protect from alias expansion). So, for MS Windows users > there is no conflict or a tradition to be broken here. Actually, Eshell does accept \ as a directory separator on Windows systems. Now, thinking about all this has led me to the following proposal: There are two different aspects to what "*" at the beginning of a command word does: 1) It causes aliases to be ignored, and 2) it prefers the external version of a program to any Lisp-implemented version. In the case of 1, I agree the default should be \. In the case of 2, I believe the current use of "*" ought to remain. Thus I propose creating a new variable, and a bit of new code, so that the meaning of initial * is kept, while initial \ is allowed for ignoring aliases. (The use of initial \ can be made safe for Windows users by parsing it only if no other backslashes occur in the command word, and no such executable exists in the root directory). If the meaning of 1 and 2 is to stay merged, I recommend keeping the current default of *, because it has a deeper meaning than what \ does for shell users (where it means only that aliases be ignored). John