Re: rssh.el interactions with ange-ftp/efs
Sandy Rutherford <sandy(a)math.ubc.ca> writes:
As I've mentioned before, there is another and much tougher issue
than
simply using URLs to specify file names. EFS cannot use a file
transfer program that does not follow a protocol.
We are not proposing EFS be extended to handle other transfer
programs. I am proposing allowing other handlers for remote protocols.
The would need two things
1. A way to access a file using a particular handler. I proposed a
syntax for that. The consensus seems to be that it is worth trying
to use URL's.
2. A general method of specifying remote files is specified and logic
is added to Emacs to support automatic selection of handler. I
propose we use the EFS syntax for that as it is clean and short.
Under this proposal EFS would become the handler for ftp:// URLS and
the default action for a general remote name would we be to convert it
to ftp:// for backwards compatibility.
Neither of rcp, scp, or ssh (or even sftp) provide status
information
back, nor do they follow any defined protocol. They are designed as
user-level programs. EFS will not work with them now, nor will it
ever work with them.
EFS might not work with them but rssh.el does.
Therefore, the main reason for supporting URLs is not to allow
people
to use rcp, scp, etc, but to provide the convenience of having EFS
support a widespread syntax. Support for URLs will not lead to
support for rcp, scp, etc.
We already _have_ support for rsh style transfers with rssh.el. The
problem is just that
A. now it uses a remote file syntax that conflicts partly with EFS.
B. The user has to select by hand which protocol to use.
i.e. EFS thinks its the sole provider of remote file access.
To summarise, there are 3 issues swirling around here:
Like I said, I think you are completely misrepresenting things here.
1. URL support. This is a user interface issue. Some work will
need
to be done to make it compatible with Emacs, but this is a
possibility (maybe even a likelhood).
No it is a technical issue. We need a syntax for remote files that can
hold a protocol. That the choice is URL's is maybe user interface
stuff.
2. Support for rcp, scp and sftp. This is a non-starter.
See rssh.el
3. Support for secure file transfers. Via ftpsshd and SSLftp we
have
support for this now. However, we can probably do some things to
make it easier to set up EFS to use them.
This is completely separate from this discssing.