On Tue, Jun 09, 2020 at 10:43:27PM -0500, Chris Muller wrote:
> >
> > > On 2020-06-09, at 11:52 AM, David T. Lewis <lewis at mail.msen.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Funny you should mention it, that's how I went down this rabbit hole
> > > in the first place. I was thinking that it would be an obviously good
> > > thing to do if we could evaluate a doIt or named script file immediately
> > > on image startup, as opposed to waiting until all of the Etoys script
> > > processing comes to life somewhere later in the startUp process.
> >
> > Exactly. Note that VW has several commandline switches we might want to
> > learn from
> >
> > -filein {some file names}
> > -doit {some strings}
> > -evaluate {a single string & write result to stdout & quit
> > -cli {start a commandline loop}
> >
> 
> What I most like about Dave's change is the improved separation of
> concerns:  it allows the OS to invoke an image with the proper startup
> script and/or arguments WITHOUT relying on Preferences
> readDocumentAtStartup being set correctly.  I can see -filein being useful
> for a production patch use-case, but the rest of those go back to mixing
> the Smalltalk environment in with the operating-system environment.  For
> safe and scalable headless interaction, you would just use a server.  I
> never knew if there was an actual use-case for -evaluate and -cli other
> than novelty.  Is there?
> 

Hi Chris,

I expect you're right about -evaluate and -cli. They have novelty
value and it's nice that they work, but I would be surprised if they
get much real use.

On the other hand, a -doit that runs right away before entering the
startup sequence might be quite helpful for broken images that are
getting wedged somewhere in the middle of startup processing.
 
Dave