Literate shell scripts

[edenworky]

Org-mode has long supported shell scripting via two features:
a) shell links, e.g. shell:ls -a
b) shell src blocks, e.g.

#+BEGIN_SRC shell :session default
echo "Hello World"
#+END_SRC

Could we have support for using ghostel in place of shell, so we can support e.g. color output and password prompting?

For adding a link type, see the general info page on the subject [[info:org#Adding Hyperlink Types]], but also note org-link-shell-confirm-function and org-link-elisp-confirm-function in the manual at [[info:org#Code Evaluation Security]].

[dakra]

This is currently not possible.

I think this would also need that ghostel can render in a certain region instead of the whole buffer.

Related to the comint #278 and eshell #426 feature requests.

[edenworky]

I'm not an expert, but my understanding was that this is mostly handled by org-babel, no? I remember seeing somewhere that all the handling required is for selection, ie how to delineate when a command ends, which eg ob-shell solves by just wrapping the command with commands printing some string they capture between, which is how this currently works for eshell and comint execution.

Also note, org src blocks have take a :session flag which keeps a shell buffer open and running, which seems to me like how ghostel already works. See also ob-eshell https://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/babel/languages/ob-doc-eshell.html

All of this to say, while I can understand how being able to run/render in-buffer would make this smoother and better (for comint/eshell/tmux(?)) too, but there are currently solutions in org-babel for this which don't assume the src lang is able to render into a region, and that that particular feature is just the default :results behavior.

In any case wonderful library and tysm for all your hard work <3

[dakra]

Hmm.. Just getting the final result should be possible.
I'll have to think about it.
Do you have a concrete use-case in mind where this could be useful?

[edenworky]

I use an org file (via vulpea and some bespoke wiring) to store personnel info, which I then use in general shell scripts in org src blocks, such that each personnel can execute the script with their personal info. I have a working solution, and executing via ob-shell works well enough and prints correctly enough, but doesn't pipe out askpass for sudo commands unless you pass a :session flag and persist it to a buffer and then the printing gets weirder.

My thinking is, with ghostel being as it is, it should absolutely be possible to have the current :session mechanism working for a current ghostel session with fancy printing and askpass and all, and with ghostel opening and closing so quickly and seamlessly, I'd imagine it should also be possible to just wrap the session mechanism to fire one-off commands. Should be fairly straightforward to wrap over ob-shell with a thin ob-ghostel or smth. Or maybe "add it under" ob-shell in the same way as currently happens for #+begin_src bash etc.