RE: Feature request : Tab-completion for 'shell-comand'

[Drew Adams]

> But I still think my idea to use a minibuffer as two areas is 
> effective.

Forgive me for not having followed this thread and perhaps misunderstanding.

Dividing the minibuffer into sections would be, I think, a bad idea. The
minibuffer is used for so many different types of input. It can involve
multi-line input expressions that are quite long, in some cases. I cannot
imagine a useful partitioning of the space.

Similarly, I think that if we are looking for different output areas for
messages, status indicators, and such, it is better, instead of dividing the
echo area, to use other parts of the screen: mode line, "header" lines near
the echo area, temporary displays, pop-ups, tooltips, and so on.

In sum, I'd say let's leave the minibuffer and the echo area alone - they're
doing enough work already. ;-)

Wrt shell-command.el's insertion of the current directory into the prompt: I
can imagine that some users might like a reminder of the current directory
in the prompt, but many would not. Unless this displayed directory can
sometimes be different from `default-directory' for some reason. Is that the
case, or is it always just a reminder of `default-directory' (output of
`pwd')?

If it is just `default-directory', then this boils down to the preferences
that users have wrt their shell prompts. Some like to see the directory in
the prompt; others prefer to hit `pwd' when they want a reminder. I'm in the
latter camp (but I alias `.' to `pwd', so it's just one key to hit).