Why proxies?

[Kirk Strauser]

I've finally built a usable proxy setup that doesn't contain recursive 
references, so I can use it pretty much as well as my old multi-hop setup.  
However, I'm still not clear on why requiring pre-defined proxies is better 
than allowing users to build an ad-hoc list when they need one.

For example, I use the sudo method a lot - in fact, pretty much every time 
I'm editing files on a remote machine.  From what I can tell, rather than 
just opening an old-style filename like:

  /multi:ssh:address@hidden:sudo:address@hidden:

I have to add a new proxy definition like:

(add-to-list 'tramp-default-proxies-alist
  '("\\`remoteserver2307\\'" nil "/ssh:address@hidden:"))

then mess around with tramp-default-proxies-alist to get the new entry where 
I want it (or just restart Emacs, which is often easier).  I may never 
actually connect to that server again, especially if it's a friend's 
machine that they've asked me to poke around on for troubleshooting, and 
yet it requires the same work as setting up a machine that I'm going to be 
accessing constantly.

I'm not saying that the new proxy setup is bad, but I just don't "get" it.  
What's the killer app for the new system?

Despite all that, I still love Tramp.  Multi-hop connections are probably 
the most useful administration tool I've ever used, and one of the reasons 
I absolutely won't leave Emacs.
-- 
Kirk Strauser
The Day Companies