Re: user-controlled load-path extension: load-dir

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:08:15 +0900 "Stephen J. Turnbull" <address@hidden> 
wrote: 

SJT> Ted Zlatanov writes:
>> I have not advocated [automatically installing and loading code]
>> and am against it; if I implied otherwise I apologize for the
>> misunderstanding.  el-get's *bootstrap* may reside in the load-dir,
>> but all the packages it manages won't.

SJT> From the maintainer's point of view, this is *not about you*.  You
SJT> have restrained requirements for the feature, yes.  How do you propose
SJT> to impose *your* restraints on *others* who want additional features,
SJT> though?

By making the feature an optional, off-by-default loader and nothing more.

>> I view it as "I enabled the load-dir feature, maybe I should understand
>> it."

SJT> Again, how do you propose to get all other users to view it that way?
SJT> If this is only for you, you already know how to do it.  Obviously,
SJT> you expect this to be used by many people.  It needs to meet their
SJT> expectations as well as yours, or it's a bad idea to maintain it in
SJT> core.

I think you're arguing that the feature will be misinterpreted and
misused.  I disagree and can't find a way to agree with you; I still
think it's simple enough that it won't cause the kind of mismatched
expectations that lead to unwanted behavior and bug reports.

>> You keep insisting on holding the user's hand.

SJT> No.  I'm anticipating what *some* users are going to expect of it,
SJT> based on experience with maintaining similar features.  I wouldn't
SJT> hold the user's hand in this case, I'd simply insist that the feature
SJT> be provided as a package.  Then helping them with their misconceptions
SJT> (and statistically speaking, there will be a certain fraction of users
SJT> who misunderstand) is my privilege as core maintainer, not my
SJT> responsibility.  Putting it in core makes it the other way around, and
SJT> that will suck for Stefan and Yidong IMO.

While I disagree about the consequences you think it will have, I'm
proposing it before committing code exactly so the maintainers can make
up their mind.  I think we've both stated our case clearly at this point.

Ted