diff --git a/palps.rkt b/palps.rkt
index cf06851..476aba9 100755
--- a/palps.rkt
+++ b/palps.rkt
@@ -8,13 +8,15 @@
     (or/c char-numeric? char-alphabetic? (curry char=? #\-))
     (string->list call))))
 
-(define (our-make-temporary-file)
+(define (our-make-temporary-file [copy-from #f])
   ;; when deployed as a systemd socket, this program is expected to be
   ;; ran with PrivateTmp. however, in case this is not true, we still
   ;; make our own directory. "red", the restricted version of "ed",
   ;; has no facility for getting outside of the directory we start it
   ;; in.
-  (make-temporary-file "red.~a" #:base-dir (make-temporary-directory)))
+  (make-temporary-file "red.~a"
+                       #:copy-from copy-from
+                       #:base-dir (make-temporary-directory)))
 
 ;; unfortunately, we cannot just exec red and let it take over the
 ;; I/O. ed, being the standard text editor, only works with standard