problems with embedding

[David Kaplan]

Following a discussion on ipython-users mailing list from July 10, 2008, the following bugs in IPShellEmbed have been noted:

1) When I create the shell instance, it spits out information about the
logging state, as if I had just started ipython. This makes some sense
as it is like starting a new ipython, but this has a strange interaction
with the ipython history. All the commands I enter end up in
ipython_log.py, but when I create the instance from inside ipython
itself, it has the effect of making ipython "forget" about previous
commands. If I use the up arrow key to flip through previous commands,
all commands from the current session are absent, including the command
I used to create the embedded ipython instance. Is this normal?

3) Once I finish in the embedded shell, I enter %quit and leave it.
After this, attempting to reuse the keyboard() immediately exits the
shell. Presumably it is dead. Is there a way to make an embedded shell
that stays alive or to bring back to life a dead shell? Or do I need to
create a new instance each time?

4) If I create, use and exit an embedded shell, either from ipython
itself or in a script I execute with %run (and possibly other ways), and
then I try to use the %quit magic command to exit ipython, it does
nothing. It asks if I want to leave, I enter y, hit enter and then it
just puts me right back in ipython. The only way I have found to exit
is with ctrl-d. This seems like a bug to me. Am I correct?

5) Going into the embedded shell freezes and make unavailable for viewing pylab plots. This is quite inconvenient as often times in interactive use one wants to see plots while in the embedded shell.