Provides support to multiple managed buffers of any kind. This is helpful for using multiple inferior shells, multiple SQL session buffers or any other piped process that requires multiple buffers.

The library includes support for:

• A major mode and buffer for listing, switching, and organizing multiple Emacs buffers.
• Fast switching with customized key bindings through the customize framework.
• Switch between managers providing the same key bindings for buffer entries with the same key bindings for creation, switching and managing.
• Create your own trivial implementations in minimal set of Emacs Lisp code.
• Interact with buffer entries and manager as objects with a straight forward API.

• Usage
• Extending Packages
• Entries Mode
  • Key Bindings
• Fast Switching
• Key Bindings
• Extending Libraries
• Implementations
• Changelog
• License

This isn't useful by itself, you need to extend but subclassing eieio (Emacs Lisp) objects. See the buffer shell project for an example. This is done by extending Emacs eieio objects and can be done in ~90 lines of code (example: buffer shell).

To create your own managed buffer set you must extend buffer-entry that defines behavior for each created managed buffer. You must also extend the manager itself buffer-manager.

This library on its own isn't useful. It provides a lot of behavior for packages that extend it (called extensions). An example of an extension is the buffer shell library and the iSQL library (to be made public soon).

When extending a package the buffer-manage library generates several functions and creates keybindings to those functions as described in the entries mode and key bindings sections. For this documentation commands/functions that are created are notated as <package name>-<rest of function name>. For example, to create a new shell with the bshell package, you'd use M-x bshell-new.

Any package that extends buffer-manage and registered is put in a list and can be switched with C-x C-; (see key bindings) or M-x buffer-manager-bind-functions. After you've chosen a buffer manage extension you can then manage those buffers by with C-tab or M-x <package name>-list. This mode provides a list of live buffers and (optionally) their working directory.

The entries mode buffer allows for mouse editing and also the following keys:

To easily and quickly switch between modes, you can use C-x C-h or M-x <package name>-switch. Using this command when there are no buffer entries creates one. Switching by buffer entry name completion is invoked by adding the universal command (C-u C-x C-h) on invocation. Currently, there are two ways to cycle through buffers:

• last-visit: go to the last visited buffer entry
• next: go to the next highest priority buffer entry

To alternate between these cycling modes use C-x C-' or M-x <package name>-toggle-cycle-method.

Important: To get the fast switching or any keybinding support (not including the the entries mode buffer).

The customize system persists the key bindings for all buffer managers. You can view or modify the buffer management functions with: M-x customize-variable buffer-manage-key-bindings. You'll see other registered buffer manager extensions in for this customized variable.

Extend buffer-manage.el if you need to manage many separate buffers. However, if you need just a simple persistence or configuration management (without buffer management support) you can require the config-manage.el library instead. See for frame customize project as an example of how to extend the configuration manager.

Implementations that use this library include (please let me know of your own):

• The flexible configuration library config-manage-mode-info.
• Multiple buffer shell library.
• The Emacs SQL ciSQL library.

An extensive changelog is available here.

Copyright © 2017 - 2020 Paul Landes

GNU Lesser General Public License, Version 2.0