Re: bug#1212: 23.0.60; split-string-and-unquote problems

[Stefan Monnier]

>> >> >> I do not understand: what makes you think it could be a properly quoted
>> >> >> shell command?
>> >> > Because you said that working with shell commands was why these
>> >> > functions were invented in the first place.  And that is how they are
>> >> > used in Emacs as of now.
>> >> No, they're used to run commands.  Without going through a shell.
>> > Then why would one need quoting?
>> 
>> Because when you run a command with start-process or call-process, you
>> need to specify a list of strings (each being an argument), but the user
>> usually wants to enter the list within a single minibuffer.  So from the
>> string returned by the read-string (or equivalent) function, we need to
>> get a list of strings.

> If I am prompted for a command in the minibuffer, as in "M-x compile",
> I will type a command that uses shell quoting (assuming I need
> quoting).  That is the natural thing to do, so I expect most users to
> do the same.  I don't expect many of them to use Lisp string quoting
> for commands.

Indeed, `compile' uses a shell and hence obeys shell quoting.


        Stefan