Re: M-x compile should tell its status (a little bit better)..

[Stephan Stahl]

Hi.

Richard Stallman <address@hidden> writes:

>     Right know when starting compile it shows "Compiling" in the mode line.
>     When i started several compilations in parallel i found it confusing that
>     i could not find out if one of them has already finished. Execpt by
>     switching to that buffer and looking at its mode line...
>     So how about to change compile to reflect that info in its mode name so
> 
> Could you say more precisely what change you have in mind
> in the mode line contents?

Yes of course. The change to the mode line would however just be a
side effect..

C-x C-b (list-buffers)
currently shows something like this:

 MR Buffer           Size  Mode         File
 -- ------           ----  ----         ----
. % ~                2485  Dired by name ~/
. % /                2485  Dired by date /
 *  *compilation*     142  Compilation  
 *  *compilation*<2>  142  Compilation  
 *  *compilation*<3>  476  Compilation  
 *  *compilation*<4> 1892  Compilation  


My idea is to change it like this:

 MR Buffer           Size  Mode         File
 -- ------           ----  ----         ----
. % ~                2485  Dired by name ~/
. % /                2485  Dired by date /
 *  *compilation*     142  Compile running      
 *  *compilation*<2>  142  Compile ok   
 *  *compilation*<3>  476  Compile ok   
 *  *compilation*<4> 1892  Compile aborted      

Just the way dired show if it sorts by name oder by date could be used
by M-x compile to show if it is still running or if it finished
with/without errors. I think things like M-x grep, M-x shell-command
would also benefit from such an aproach..

I think visual feetback is very important and this seems like just a
little change (for the better) since compile already set the
"Compiling" string in the modeline..

Stephan
-- 
Stephan Stahl