Subject: Re: bug#26661: compile, shell etc. should use bash-completion !

From: Stefan Kangas <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2020 16:14:57 -0700

tags 26661 + notabug wontfix
close 26661
thanks

積丹尼 Dan Jacobson <[email-masked]> writes:

> M-x compile prompt,
> Compile command: cat --<TAB>
>
> M-x shell,
> $ cat --<TAB>
>
> etc. etc.
> should all use bash-completion !
>
> If the user has it turned on in his shell, emacs should recognize it.
> https://www.google.com/search?q=bash-completion+emacs

Note that `shell' already supports pcomplete, which extends to
`compile' (and `shell-command', etc.) AFAICT.  Try typing:

    M-x compile RET make SPC TAB

and enjoy...

I'm also not exactly sure how integrating bash completion with Emacs
would work.  Bash completion consists of a number of highly
bash-specific scripts.  It would take significant effort to write an
Emacs parser for them.

It seems like a better idea for people to spend time on making pcomplete
extensions for more commands.  But that would be outside the scope of
this feature request, I think.

I'm therefore closing this bug report.