Re: Using file descriptors in Emacs (was: Teaching emacsclient to act as a pager, and more)

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: address@hidden
> Date: Fri, 09 Sep 2016 17:13:33 -0400
> 
> So, even if the pager use case ends up always done through
> emacsclient-as-a-proxy, I would still like some guidance on how (as a
> first step) an FD type could be added to Emacs.

OK, let's talk about this broader issue.

Let's start by describing the use cases for this feature, and please
describe those use features in Emacs terms.  IOW, instead of "act as a
real Unix shell", please describe what you'd like Emacs to do with the
file descriptors in terms of Emacs functionality, like display or edit
text, send or receive text to/from a subprocess, etc.  Also, what kind
of descriptors (i.e. what kinds of files/devices are they open on)
would be useful in this context?

I'm asking for this because Emacs is not a shell, and its repertoire
of features is quite different from that of a Unix shell.  So looking
at a shell as our model is not necessarily useful.

Thanks.