Subject: Re: bug#11666: default-directory

From: Dave Abrahams <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 10:33:00 -0400

on Sun Jun 10 2012, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi-AT-gnus.org> wrote:

> Dave Abrahams <[email-masked]> writes:
>
>>> But would binding `default-directory' to "/" (or something) for the
>>> Gnus process buffers be the right thing?  
>>
>> Why not?
>
> I was wondering whether that would bug out on some OS-es...

I suppose it's possible that on Windows the whole "current drive"
disappears, so "/" is just as incorrect as anything else...

>> I think so.  How about binding it to something that is pretty much
>> guaranteed to exist as long as Emacs is running, say, the user's home
>> directory or user-emacs-directory?
>
> I could imagine that "~" wouldn't be useful on some OS-es?  

Right, I meant ``the local equivalent of "~"''

> But `user-emacs-directory' would probably be safe?

Probably.

> I also wonder what buffers would need to have `default-directory' set
> locally.  The nntp and nnimap server buffers; sure.  But what about the
> smtpmail buffer, for instance?

I dunno.

> Is this a problem that should be solved globally in Emacs, somehow?

Dunno again.  It's something that comes up for me with Gnus far, far
more often than with anything else I'm doing in Emacs... so solving it
in Emacs might be even more of an uphill battle than solving it in Gnus
is.

> Come to think of it, what is really the real problem?  :-)  What is it
> that makes `default-directory' make any difference when opening a
> network connection?

Great questions.  Dunno #3.  I just know it makes my life miserable :-)

-- 
Dave Abrahams
BoostPro Computing
http://www.boostpro.com