Re: Autoload from a web page?

[Lennart Borgman]

On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 6:22 AM, Richard Stallman <address@hidden> wrote:
>    - You have group of related elisp files in a common place on the web.
>    - You download one of them, but it turns out that it does `require' or
>    autoload that supposes you have downloaded the other files too.
>
> I understand that is the case you're talking about.
> It is wrong to cut the user out of the process of deciding what
> software to install.


But in this situation he is not cut out of the decision. At least that
is not my intention.

In this scenario the user wants to download a package, but he may not
want all of it at once. It is just like autoloading locally, but with
the difference that the files are loaded from the web (in a well
defined manner).


>    In a situation like that it is possible to set up for autoloading
>    things by downloading them from the web without compromising security
>
> This issue is not about security in the usual sense.
> It is about preserving the user's control of his computing.
> This is a fundamental goal for the GNU Project


Yes, I understand that and I read about the problem with javascript.
The same problems can not arise here since the user will be in control
of where to download files from. Unlike the situation with javascript
a single site (or a list of well defined sites) will be where the
download comes from.


> Please see http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html.  That
> issue is not related to Emacs, but it is basically the same issue.
>
>