Re: ad-hoc multi-hop editing of remote files

[Michael Albinus]

Chris Withers <address@hidden> writes:

>>> Yes please, but proper ad-hoc, allowing specification of the transit
>>> user, remote host and remote user all in one path. If there's anything
>>> I can do to make that happen more quickly, please let me know...
>>
>> I have no real idea how to achieve this, sorry. If you come with a
>> working solution you're welcome!
>
> /user|address@hidden:/

You mean enclosed in slashes? Also ambigous, because Tramp knows it
comes to real file names when it reaches a slash during parsing. And
your proposal misses the method; it must not be ssh in call cases.

>> Why not to go the other direction, and make ido aware of proxy hosts?
>
> Not sure what you mean by that, can you give an example?

No, I don't know ido myself. It was just asking around, whether somebody
has an idea ...

Maybe it's not only ido but a general change: Let's assume we have an
ad-hoc marker, call it "/multi:" or "/ad-hoc:". When typing this in the
minibuffer, the file name completion knows that the next substring must
be a proxy (like "ssh:address@hidden:"). Once parsed, it takes it out of
completion, together with the ad-hoc marker, and adds it silently to
`tramp-default-proxies-alist'. You continue with the filename you intend
to open, like "/ssh:address@hidden:". Or you add the next ad-hoc marker :-)

Next time you need to type only "/ssh:address@hidden:", because the proxy is
already added to `tramp-default-proxies-alist'.

The advantage is, that Tramp does not need to parse the whole string
"/multi:ssh:address@hidden:ssh:address@hidden:", which makes it (me!) crazy.

And for you it is also more simple, because you have to type the proxy
only once during an Emacs session.

Ido and friends shall be able to handle it without a change. Hopefully.

> cheers,
>
> Chris
>
> PS: How come still CVS as opposed to SVN or, better yet, Git?

Lazyness. It was CVS when I've started Tramp hacking (back in 2002), and
until now nobody has urged for a change. And, btw, when changing it
would be Bazaar, because that's also used by Emacs, and it would
simplify merging.

Best regards, Michael.