[GRASS5] Re: General and gis.m module running (stdout,stderr,exit status) issues

[Cedric Shock]

Glynn,

> The obvious solution is for parser.c to provide a G_terminal_required()
> function and for modules which need a terminal to call it before calling
> G_parser(). This information can then be made available to gui.tcl.

There are also bash scripts, which are useful not only for little scripts but 
also for using other programs or programming languages. The most natural way 
for both c modules and bash modules to convey the "terminal required" 
information is via the module definition information. No reason we couldn't 
also have a G_terminal_required() that sets this to be true and is the 
preferred method of doing so for C code.

>
> The other side of the coin is for modules which don't absolutely /need/
> a terminal to stop assuming that there is one. I.e. no gratuitous use of
> the terminal by modules which are essentially useable without one.

That'd be nice both from a programming and usability standpoint, but I believe 
it is a goal that we won't reach for quite some time.

--Cedric