Re: drain-input

[Gary Houston]

> From: Neil Jerram <address@hidden>
> Date: 27 Aug 2001 10:24:21 +0100
> 
> Here's a procedure that does what I expected `drain-input' to be.  I
> use it often in connection with `open-input-pipe':
> 
> (define (drain-output port)
>   (let loop ((chars '())
>            (next (read-char port)))
>     (if (eof-object? next)
>       (list->string (reverse! chars))
>       (loop (cons next chars)
>             (read-char port)))))
> 
> For example...
> 
> (define (texinfo->info str)
>   (let* ((tmp (mkstemp! (string-copy "/tmp/guile-makeinfo-XXXXXX")))
>        (tmpfn (port-filename tmp)))
>     (display str tmp)
>     (force-output tmp)
>     (close-port tmp)
>     (let* ((pipe (open-input-pipe (string-append "makeinfo"
>                                                " --no-headers"
>                                                " --force"
>                                                " -o - "
>                                                tmpfn)))
>          (infostr (drain-output pipe)))
>       (close-pipe pipe)
>       (delete-file tmpfn)
>       infostr)))
> 
> Perhaps it would be worth adding `drain-output' to (ice-9 popen) ?

It's probably not a good idea to extend (ice-9 popen), since it's just
a backwards compatibility module.

It would also be worth checking whether any of the scsh interfaces for
collecting output would be suitable.