#503 Re-add pgnuplot.exe for parallel Gnuplot-GUI and pipe operation
pgnuplot.exe should be re-added to the distribution.
pgnuplot.exe was removed since v5.0 with the argument that gnuplot.exe would support command piping as well. But this is a feeble argument.
For example an important use case is: data ploting from a Python session through a pipe (module Gnuplot etc.) and working parallel in the Gnuplot-Windows-GUI on those plottings and settings: watching and re-using commands, tuning, replotting, using help ...
This still works when I copy pgnuplot.exe from an old v4.x setup next to the v5 wgnuplot.exe . But pgnuplot should be there officially, and not to be fiddled in a filthy way after each installation.
Note: pgnuplot.exe supports stdin pipe, starts wgnuplot.exe and redirects to wgnuplot.exe via Windows messages (PostMessage)
Thanks for your request. It's been already seven years since the removal of pgnuplot from the official binary distribution. As you noticed, the front-end still works and in fact it's functionality hasn't changed since the last decade.
The primary intended use case of pgnuplot -- as far as I am aware -- was to allow piped (redirected) input to wgnuplot when no console mode gnuplot existed. For this, we now have gnuplot.exe. In that sense pgnuplot was a hack that was made unnecessary when the robust console mode gnuplot.exe matured. Consequently, we prefer third party programs to use that instead of the somewhat fragile pgnuplot mechanism. (In addition, input from pipes in commands was not possible in wgnuplot and was only added 2011.)
The use case you describe is certainly an interesting (albeit somewhat special) one that we didn't have in my when removing pgnuplot from the distribution.