Re: Short explanation for & in key ! of dired

[Juri Linkov]

> Ther could be a variable (e.g. "command-name-default-discard-output")
> which controls that behavior, and C-u could invert the sense of that
> default.
>
> When _not_ discarding output, I think in general it should (1) always
> make a new buffer (to allow convenient use of multiple simultaneous
> background commands),

Making a new buffer on every run will quickly overpopulate the buffer list
with a lot of buffers with exited processes.  Maybe it should check the
running process status of the default buffer before creating a new one.
So instead of asking a question "A command is running.  Kill it? "
just silently run the command it a new buffer.  And reuse the default
buffer when it doesn't run a process.

> and (2) maybe bury the buffer at first.
>
> That might satisfy all the viewpoints expressed thus far
> (you:  default nil, C-u for occasional gui app, me: default t, C-u for 
> debugging).

I agree with the need for a new option and the C-u argument, but with
a slightly different meaning.  Sometimes I need to inspect the output of
misbehaving GUI app and would like to do this without restarting it with C-u.
I'd prefer if a new option and C-u defined whether to show or hide
the associated process buffer.  So when running GUI app with C-u, it could
bury the buffer, but when running a command line tool, then show its
output like it does now.

-- 
Juri Linkov
http://www.jurta.org/emacs/