reenabling icomplete operation during read-buffer

[ken manheimer]

i noticed that icomplete stopped operating during, eg,
switch-to-buffer, in my CVS checkouts a good while back.  i'm finally
getting around to investigating, and see that read-buffer &c fail this
condition in icomplete-simple-completing-p:

       (or t (not (functionp minibuffer-completion-table))
           (eq icomplete-with-completion-tables t)
           (member minibuffer-completion-table
                         icomplete-with-completion-tables))))

i believe i (or someone) put that in to weed out complicated
situations where casual use of completion may be prohibitive, for
instance, during file-name read operations where the filesystem could
be remote or otherwise mediated.  the thing is, this inhibition is not
necessary for buffer-name-reading situations, but i haven't figured
out a good way to recognize that situation, in order to reframe the
above condition to allow for it.  can anyone suggest a good way to do
so?  or am i heading in the wrong direction?

thanks!
--
ken
http://myriadicity.net