[slime-devel] What should `M-x slime' do?

[Luke Gorrie]

Ahoyhoy,

A few times I've sat down to "fix" the behaviour of `M-x slime' and
`M-x slime-connect' as regards multiple connections but I always give
up and can't decide what they should do.

Here are some cases:

  M-x slime, no prefix argument, already connected:
    Close all connections, but don't kill any inferior-lisps.
    If *inferior-lisp* exists then connect to that Lisp, otherwise
    start a new one and connect.

  .. or with prefix arg:
    Ask if we should create an additional connection.
    If yes, create a new *inferior-lisp* and connect.
    If no, do as above.

  M-x slime-connect, no prefix argument, already connected:
    Close all existing connections and then make the new one.

  .. or with prefix arg:
    Ask if we should close existing connections first.
    If yes, do as above.
    If no, keep existing connections and create a new one.

Now that the protocol is robust I don't think you'd want `M-x slime'
to reconnect to the current *inferior-lisp*, so maybe it should create
an additional connection? And what about slime-connect?

There's also the question of how we should recycle REPL buffers. I
don't know if anyone has strong opinions on that.

-Luke