Re: Ed with Readline

[Bob Proulx]

Brian Zwahr wrote:
> For the record, this can be achieved simply by running `ed` with `rlwrap`.
> 
> $ rlwrap ed
> 
> That's what I do, thanks to one of the @ed1conf tweets. I think other people
> use this method, too. It gives the functionality without having to change
> ed, following the "do one thing and do it well" philosophy.

I also use rlwrap on any tool that I want lib readline editing.  Works
with random tools like ftp for example.  It's a good generic tool
which works with line based programs.  I haven't ever wanted to use it
with ed though.

It would seem odd for a small program like ed to pull in a library
containing 10x more lines of code than itself.  And it seems odd to me
that the target audience of ed would want it.  My target use for ed
includes that it is an editor that has no dependencies beyond libc.

I think this feature addition is undesirable for ed.  And if someone
does desire it then it is trivially available using rlwrap as Brian
has shown.

Bob