Bug#468578: gedit: Should have a mode suitable for EDITOR/VISUAL environment variables

[Maik Zumstrull]

Package: gedit
Version: 2.20.4-1
Severity: wishlist

Currently, the gedit binary's behaviour when called when an instance of gedit
ist already open is the following:

1) Files named on the command line open as new tabs in the existing instance
2) The new instance exits

This is problematic for most utilities using an external text editor, because
they usually

1) call $EDITOR and
2) wait for that process to exit and
3) assume that you are now finished editing the file(s).

Obviously, when EDITOR=gedit, there's a good chance that you haven't even
started editing.

Therefore, I suggest that gedit should have an additional mode specifically
for use as $EDITOR, in which the new gedit process stays open (sleeping, if
necessary) until all files mentioned on the command line have been closed in
whatever gedit instance they are being edited in.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (110, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.24-1-686 (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages gedit depends on:
ii  gconf2                     2.20.1-3      GNOME configuration database syste
ii  gedit-common               2.20.4-1      official text editor of the GNOME 
ii  iso-codes                  1.9-1         ISO language, territory, currency,
ii  libart-2.0-2               2.3.20-1      Library of functions for 2D graphi
ii  libatk1.0-0                1.20.0-1      The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii  libattr1                   1:2.4.41-1    Extended attribute shared library
ii  libc6                      2.7-9         GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libenchant1c2a             1.3.0-5       a wrapper library for various spel
ii  libgconf2-4                2.20.1-3      GNOME configuration database syste
ii  libglade2-0                1:2.6.2-1     library to load .glade files at ru
ii  libglib2.0-0               2.14.6-1      The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgnome2-0                2.20.1.1-1    The GNOME 2 library - runtime file
ii  libgnomecanvas2-0          2.20.1.1-1    A powerful object-oriented display
ii  libgnomeprint2.2-0         2.18.4-1      The GNOME 2.2 print architecture -
ii  libgnomeprintui2.2-0       2.18.2-1      GNOME 2.2 print architecture User 
ii  libgnomeui-0               2.20.1.1-1    The GNOME 2 libraries (User Interf
ii  libgnomevfs2-0             1:2.20.1-2    GNOME Virtual File System (runtime
ii  libgtk2.0-0                2.12.8-1      The GTK+ graphical user interface 
ii  libgtksourceview2.0-0      2.0.2-1       shared libraries for the GTK+ synt
ii  libpango1.0-0              1.18.4-1      Layout and rendering of internatio
ii  libx11-6                   2:1.0.3-7     X11 client-side library
ii  libxml2                    2.6.31.dfsg-1 GNOME XML library
ii  python                     2.4.4-6       An interactive high-level object-o
ii  python-glade2              2.12.1-1      GTK+ bindings: Glade support
ii  python-gobject             2.14.1-2      Python bindings for the GObject li
ii  python-gtk2                2.12.1-1      Python bindings for the GTK+ widge
ii  python-gtksourceview2      2.0.0-1       Python bindings for the GtkSourceV
ii  python-support             0.7.6         automated rebuilding support for p
ii  python2.4                  2.4.4-7       An interactive high-level object-o
ii  scrollkeeper               0.3.14-16     A free electronic cataloging syste

Versions of packages gedit recommends:
ii  libgnomevfs2-bin              1:2.20.1-2 GNOME Virtual File System (support
ii  python-gnome2                 2.20.1-2   Python bindings for the GNOME desk
ii  zenity                        2.20.1-1   Display graphical dialog boxes fro

-- no debconf information