Re: question about extending Tramp

[Michael Albinus]

Ted Zlatanov <address@hidden> writes:

> Hello,

Hi,

> So my questions are:
>
> - should I use Tramp, or will there be no appreciable benefit compared
>   to writing my own file handler from scratch?

It depends. Tramp is designed to handle file primitive operations. It
is not clear to me which files you intend to handle with an IMAP or
LDAP server. For my understanding, both servers offer information
pieces, which are not necessarily files.

> - is there an example in the manual on adding a new external Tramp
>   method?

No, it isn't.

> - has anything like this been done before?  I assume not, based on
>   Googling and asking around.

At least not known publicly. I've never heart about.

I've started with tramp-smb.el the basic way: reading Tramp sources,
reading Elisp manual, and asking lotta questions to Kai.

> - is tramp-smb.el the right place to start?

Maybe I'm not the best person to answer, 'cause I wrote
tramp-smb.el. But I don't know another example (except tramp-ftp.el
and tramp-efs.el, which are just mediation shells to existing file
handlers).

> Thanks
> Ted

Best regards, Michael.