GNU bug report logs -
#76120
[PATCH] Expose the native sharing dialog (macOS)
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Message #292 received at 76120 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
> From: Richard Stallman <rms <at> gnu.org>
> Cc: 76120 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:58:00 -0500
>
> > It allows to send a file or a region of text to another application or
> > a service.
>
> The term "sharing" is very misleading for this; we use the word
> "share" for comething that people do with other people. So we should
> not adopt Apple's terminology.
I agree that it's misleading terminology, but it isn't Apple's
terminology. It is widely used today, primarily in smartphones, but
also on modern laptop and desktop operating systems.
> I think "system invocation dialog" is a better name for us to use.
> Is there any reason that would be misleading?
I think you have in mind invocation of programs. However, "sharing"
does not necessarily invoke a program, it could also send stuff to
some service or communication channel.
> It's an addition to a feature we already have in Dired and
> > other places whereby a file can be "opened" by some external means,
> > like a program (e.g., to show it or do other actions with it) or a
> > printing service (e.g., to print the text).
>
> Does that mean it is comparable to the ! command in Dired?
For some of the actions and some types of material to "share", it is.
For others, no. It is also system-dependent: for example, printing a
document or a buffer on GNU/Linux will usually mean invoking a program
like lpr, but on Windows Emacs just submits the text directly to the
system's printer spooling service.
> Do shell commands exist on MacOS? Can users do with ! on MacOS the
> same things they can do with the system invocation dialog?
Yes and yes. But some of the actions don't invoke shell commands, as
I tried to explain above.
> Perhaps the system invocation dialog has some conveniences -- for
> instance, not needing to remember shell commands or their syntax.
> Is that the case?
Yes. Basically, when I'm asking the system to "open" some document, I
don't need to know which program is pertinent for that. This is so
also on GNU/Linux, where at least some of these actions invoke
xdg-open, which is a shell command used to open a file or a URL with
the "preferred application" (which users can customize).
> If so, would those conveniences be convenient on GNU/Linux if they
> existed?
They already exist. However, some of these conveniences might not
(yet) be available on all systems.
> Should we aim to implement that system invocation dialog on GNU/Linux?
We already did, see shell-command-guess-functions and the features
built around that. We want to add the ability to invoke this platform
specific "sharing" as part of those features.
This bug report was last modified 20 days ago.
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