GNU bug report logs - #49505
28.0.50; Multiple launchers in GNOME

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Message #76 received at 49505 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
To: Tim Ruffing <public <at> timruffing.de>
Cc: 49505 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Manuel Uberti <manuel.uberti <at> inventati.org>,
 Peter Oliver <p.d.oliver <at> mavit.org.uk>
Subject: Re: bug#49505: 28.0.50; Multiple launchers in GNOME
Date: Wed, 25 May 2022 02:16:55 +0200

Tim Ruffing <public <at> timruffing.de> writes:

> 1. Unify the .desktop files
>
> I know this has been tried already and was reverted because that
> particular approach has forced users into using the daemon, which I
> fully agree was not a good idea. What we could do instead is to have
> have a single emacs.desktop that simply does the following:
>
> Try to connect to daemon and create a new frame, if there's no daemon,
> just launch a new instance (e.g., using emacsclient -a emacs).

[...]

> The only drawback of this approach is that ideally "New Window" would
> bring up a just a new frame but this will work only in daemon mode. In
> non-daemon mode, you'll get a new instance.

I think this sounds like a sound approach.  Can you prepare a patch for
this so we can try it out?

> But I'm not sure if this could be solved quickly because I'm not sure
> if there's a way to ask a non-daemon emacs to create a new frame. I
> think in the long-term we could for example use D-Bus activation [1]
> and make non-daemon emacs expose a dbus service that can create frames.
> But that's a larger project. Ideally there would be a "semi-daemon"
> mode, which is in between the daemon mode and the normal mode: The
> first invocation launches a daemon, further invocations (e.g., using
> emacsclient, or dbus) would just create new frames BUT if you close the
> last frame, no daemon will stay around. This would exactly match the
> behavior of other desktop applications.

Yes, that'd be nice.  Using dbus for this (perhaps via emacsclient?)
might be the right approach here.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no

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