Re: virtual file buffer spanning multiple physical files

[Juri Linkov]

> On a LUG mailing list I saw a request for a way to edit multiple
> physical files through one virtual file.  The solution recommended was
> to use FUSE.

FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) is useful for writing virtual filesystems,
but it's not a system for virtual files :)  You can use FUSE to write
a filesystem that allows to edit multiple physical files through
one virtual file.

> I was thinking that would actually (with some folding
> magic) be extremely useful in Emacs.  There are many cases where I edit
> multiple small files and have to switch back and forth to see their
> contents.  Also, search-and-replace would be easier.
>
> Is there any existing mode that does that kind of virtual join?

We considered such a mode some time ago in
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel/120943

Maybe this multi-file mode (a buffer with multiple files) could be
implemented like a multi-mode mode (a buffer with multiple major modes).