Subject: bug#23006: 25.0.92; Loading Tramp breaks pcomplete in eshell-mode

From: Michael Albinus <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2016 16:08:25 +0100

Stefan Monnier <[email-masked]> writes:

> Hi Michael,

Hi Stefan,

> It seems we have a very fundamental misunderstanding about what
> "essential" means in this context.

Yes. It is not the first time we discuss this, see for example
<http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.diffs/121948> or
<http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.diffs/114769>.

> Can you explain *your* understanding of `non-essential', then?
> What does this var mean, for you?

For Tramp, it is an indication that file name completion is in
progress. 

> And how do you relate that to its documented meaning in its docstring?

"... it can be used to prevent Tramp from prompting the
user for a password when we are simply scanning a set of files in the
background or displaying possible completions before the user even asked
for it."

If the user has typed "/ssh:host:tmp/ema", and she requests for
completion by typing TAB, the existence of the slash in the local file
name part is an indication that "the user even asked for it" (completion
on "host").

Without the slash in the local file name, Tramp does not perform
completion on "host" when there is no connection yet. In a previous
message I was wrong about this, saying that completion happens already
when there are two colons.

>         Stefan

Best regards, Michael.