Re: program args to dtk-program

[Jarek Czekalski <jarekczek@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

W dniu 09/27/2013 05:33 PM, T. V. Raman pisze:
> I've checked in a slightly fixed-up version of your patch -- note
> the following:
>
>   The empty string is not "false" in lisp --

You are right, when you corrected my defvar. That's how I intended it to 
work.

However replacing 2 calls to start-process with a single one having "" 
argument as a fallback does not work. It is a different thing to call a 
program with no arguments and with an empty string as an argument. So it 
needs a correction.

I discovered also additional things:

1. No need to check if the path is absolute, because expand-file-name 
leaves absolute file names untouched. So it was my mistake to introduce 
additional variable for that

2. Current solution always passes a single argument, so if, 
hypothetically, we had espeak program as server, it would be impossible 
to launch it with 2 arguments, for example "-veurope/pl --path /new/path".

I see now the following choices, please choose the one:

A. Revert to r8406. We would still have the ability to pass absolute 
file name as server, so any script files or batch files would work. The 
problem under windows would be that the server has to be called through 
a "bat" file. This was the thing I tried to avoid, because sometimes 
these batch files create dummy console windows. But I guess I made an 
attempt with a bat file and on my system it didn't create the unwanted 
window.

B. Leave things as they are being consious that using DTK_PROGRAM_ARGS 
is possible with only single argument and that it has bug passing single 
empty string parameter instead of no parameters. Maybe currently it does 
not crash any server, but potentially it could do harm.

C. Slightly correct the start-process call, to remove the empty string 
bug. Insert a comment, that only 1 argument may be passed to the server 
using DTK_PROGRAM_ARGS

D. I should prepare a full patch that would provide possibility to 
split-string of arguments into a list of arguments. The list would be 
later passed to the start-process with "apply" or "funcall". Parsing the 
string instead of simple splitting should also allow to pass arguments 
with spaces inside. That would force me to create a complicated parsing 
procedure, probably not worth this work. Anyway it is my need and my 
fault, so no problem with that. The problem is having some extra code in 
emacspeak.

Raman, I'm sorry for the mess I introduced with the patch. Now when you 
know the exact purpose of the patch, you have a better view on which way 
to choose.

Jarek

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the emacspeak list or change your address on the
emacspeak list send mail to "emacspeak-request@xxxxxxxxxxx" with a
subject of "unsubscribe" or "help".