New feature: read input if executing in background.

1 files changed, 28 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/pw.1 b/pw.1
index 2c9cfb6..167ec0d 100644
--- a/pw.1
+++ b/pw.1
@@ -394,6 +394,34 @@ cursor, avoiding overwriting anything in the terminal. Thus suspending and then
 immediately foregrounding provides a way to save a snapshot of the window into
 the terminal sessions history.
 
+It is possible to execute
+.I pw
+in the job control background. This may happen in two ways: either the
+.I pw
+job is backgrounded from the beginning using the shell's
+.B &
+operator, or else it is suspended with
+.B Ctrl-Z
+and then requested to execute in the background using the shell's
+.B bg
+command. When
+.I pw
+executes in the background, it continues reading from the pipe and discard
+input, but doesn't update the display. This useful behavior allows
+.I pw
+to be used for monitoring multiple programs which continuously produce
+output, all from the same job control session. Redirecting the output
+of such programs to
+.I pw
+and putting them into the background effectively muffles their output,
+while allowing them to execute indefinitely. Because
+.I pw
+is reading their output, they never block on a pipe write.
+At any time any such a backgrounded job can be brought into the foreground to
+visualize its most recent output in the
+.I pw
+display.
+
 .SH COLON COMMANDS
 
 First, some general remarks. Display refresh doesn't pause during the editing