Re: Ending ftp sessions (was Re: Some general usage questions)

Andy Norman (ange@hplb.hpl.hp.com)
Wed, 09 Nov 1994 14:42:35 +0000


Jake writes:

> I didn't know there was a way to even do background file copies with 
> ange-ftp?!  I find it very frustrating that I can't anything in Emacs if 
> I start up an ange-ftp remote file copy.  I have wait until it's complete 
> before Emacs will pay furthur attention to me.  Are you implying that 
> there's a way around this?

The ange-ftp/dired combination that worked with GNU Emacs 18 (and may work
with XEmacs) used to copy files in the background if the dired and ange-ftp
files were compiled with Jamie Zawinski's improved byte-compiler beforehand.

When RMS ported ange-ftp (and dired) to FSF GNU Emacs 19 the functionality
disappeared.

Firstly ange-ftp hooks into FSF GNU Emacs 19 differently, by using
file-name-handler hooks and not overloading.  This stopped M-x copy-file from
working async.

Secondly RMS commented out the dired functions that ange-ftp overloaded to get
the background stuff working.  This stopped dired's C command from copying
async.

The basic ange-ftp engine still works async, but the calling functions
restrict it to working synch.

efs (ange-ftp++) (currently in beta-test) supports many operations in the
background, including file copying.
					-- ange -- <><

					ange@hplb.hpl.hp.com