Re: a suggested solution for better external' completion in certain emacs modes

[Richard Stallman]

    Let's imagine I want to start psql (the PostgreSQL command line
    client) in Emacs. This is what might happen, given my suggestion:

    Emacs does:  READLINE_CTRL=API psql somedb

    This opens the normal stream between the two programs, but puts
    libreadline into 'api' mode

It would be misleading to name this mode `api'.  Readline, being a
library, has an api.  That api is how the application communicates
with Readline.  It is always the same.

    psql/Readline sends: (readline-api rl_insert_text 
                                       rl_delete_text
                                       rl_copy_text
                                       rl_kill_text
                                       rl_complete  
                                       rl_possible_completions
                                       rl_insert_completions)


    This tells Emacs what function calls the readline program can accept.

Do you mean, commands to accept from Emacs?  If so, please don't call
them "function calls"; that is confusing.  Function calls into
Readline come from the app.

    Emacs sends: (rl_complete "select * from ")

    psql/Readline accepts the command, performs it and then:

That I can understand.  I think there needs to be some sort of quoting
convention, so that real user input can be distinguished from commands
to Readline itself.

I don't understand why there needs to be more than one command.  What
is it that Emacs needs to do other than use rl_complete?