David Kastrup <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Hugh Lawson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> > David Kastrup <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> >
> >> Hugh Lawson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> >>
> >> > Debian sarge
> >> > Emacs 21.4.1
> >> >
> >> > browse-url works fine if firefox is already running.
> >> >
> >> > But suppose firefox isn't running.
> >> >
> >> > If I do 'M-x browse-url' and fill in the url, then firefox pops up for
> >> > a second and then disappears. The same thing happens with links I
> >> > click on in Emacs.
> >> >
> >> > I think I can imagine a shell script to deal with this, but surely
> >> > there is something alread in Emacs.
> >>
> >> The definition of browse-url-generic in browse-url.el needs to get
> >> replaced with:
> >>
> >> (defun browse-url-generic (url &optional new-window)
> >> ;; new-window ignored
> >> "Ask the WWW browser defined by `browse-url-generic-program' to load URL.
> >> Default to the URL around or before point. A fresh copy of the
> >> browser is started up in a new process with possible additional arguments
> >> `browse-url-generic-args'. This is appropriate for browsers which
> >> don't offer a form of remote control."
> >> (interactive (browse-url-interactive-arg "URL: "))
> >> (if (not browse-url-generic-program)
> >> (error "No browser defined (`browse-url-generic-program')"))
> >> (apply 'call-process browse-url-generic-program nil
> >> 0 nil
> >> (append browse-url-generic-args (list url))))
> >
> >
> > I don't understand how this solves my problem. If mozilla-firefox
> > is open and running. all is well. If it isn't then there is a
> > problem.
>
> Emacs has several possibilities to start processes. Starting with
> call-process and 0 as third argument detaches the process completely
> from Emacs.
>
> Starting the process with start-process, in contrast, leaves the
> process associated with Emacs. If the process detaches itself from
> the tty, Emacs assumes that it is finished and kills the process
> group. This is what happens with new Firefoxes that try to escape the
> Emacs tty.
>
> This is why you need an Elisp function that will use call-process
> instead of start-process for starting Firefox if it is supposed to
> survive detaching.
Thanks for the explanation, David. I had trouble making it work, so
as a trial, I added the following two functions to my ~/.emacs file.
Please critique. I did this purely empirically, with no real
understanding.
(defun browse-url-firefox (url &optional new-window )
;;new-window ignored
"Ask the firefox browser to load URL."
(apply 'call-process "firefox" nil
0 nil (list url)))
(setq browse-url-browser-function 'browse-url-firefox)
--
Hugh Lawson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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