Re: running EDE from a file that is not under a project root dir

[Eric Ludlam]

On 08/05/2015 02:43 AM, Stephen Leake wrote:
> > >I find the global project concept scary.  I can't say how many times
> > >I've edited Emacs code that was wasn't on my load path because I had
> > >multiple checkouts of the same code.  Mostly just too many times.
> You misunderstand my point. I don't want a project that includes all
> files on the disk (which is what I think you are refering to); I want a
> single project that is active in all buffers.
>
> Most other IDEs I've used have the notion of a single active project;
> the splash screen asks for the project to open.
>
> That's how Emacs Ada mode works; the user selects the single active
> project. They can later select another one.

I have used IDEs with "global" projects, and I consider Emacs an IDE 
with a single global project for "emacs lisp" code (among other things, 
of course. :) It has handy functions like 'find-function' and 
'find-library' that lets you move to definitions and files.

The reason I don't like global projects is that if you are in one 
resource (for Emacs any old .el, .txt, etc) and call `find-function', it 
will jump off to the code, but unless you pay attention, you might end 
up somewhere you don't expect.  For example, if I have two versions of 
my source code open, such as ede.el in Emacs vs ede.el in CEDET's 
repository, and I blindly jump from a symbol, I'll could end up in the 
wrong place based on what my load path is.

In my mind, all files should be deterministically bound to a project so 
when you perform an operation, you always know where you're going.  Some 
files are "in" projects.  In your case, a way to associate a notes file 
outside a project to a project sounds important.

Having a 'global' project could be useful if you only ever edit one 
project at a time in a given emacs instance, and you want everything to 
behave as if it were.  I don't picture most Emacs users operating like 
that.  If it is feature to be added, it should be optional.

Eric