Creating a screen from a non-screened process

[Jacob Fugal]

Has it been proposed before to extend screen with the ability to pick
up other processes into a new screen?

Example:

I work a lot over SSH connections. I'm not yet to the point where I
use screen for everything (though I'm coming closer); I generally only
start a process in a screen when I anticipate the process will take a
long time. Somewhat frequently, however, I'll start a process outside
of screen and the process will take longer than I anticipate. Now
suppose I have one of those long running processes but I need to close
my SSH connection (scheduled network maintenance, my local machine
needs to reboot, whatever). I can keep the process alive by
backgrounding it before killing the TTY; ie. CTRL-z to stop the job,
bg to resume it in the background, then manually kill the TTY.
Establishing a later SSH connection, I can verify that the process is
still there (via ps), but I'm interested in the output and/or the
process may be waiting for input from me. If I were *smart*, and had
started the process in screen, I could just reattach the screen; but,
alas, this grasshopper is still learning.

So, would it be useful to be able to create a new screen that picks up
an old process?

I've searched the bug tracker on savannah and the mailing lists'
archives, but surprisingly haven't seen this discussed (maybe my
keywords were off). I'd be willing to plink at it myself and generate
a patch, if others consider it useful. I just want to make sure:

 1) It hasn't already been discussed and rejected as outside screen's scope
 2) It hasn't already been discussed and determined impossible
 3) Someone else isn't already working on it

Thanks!

Jacob Fugal