Re: Bundling GNU ELPA packages

[Tassilo Horn]

Stefan Monnier <address@hidden> writes:

>>> In Emacs-25.1, I'd like to start bundling some GNU ELPA packages
>>> into Emacs.
>> Now I'm curious.  What's the purpose of having a package system and
>> then bundling packages?
>
> I'm sure the XEmacs guys could tell you ;-)

So Stephen, if you read that, feel free to elaborate.

> Having a package in ELPA means that it can be updated independently
> from Emacs.
>
> Having packages in elpa.git instead of emacs.git makes their release
> schedules independent.
>
> Having bundled packages in both emacs.git and in elpa.git means
> 2 branches to keep in sync.

Yes, yes, and yes.  I understand all those points.  What I don't
understand is why we don't move org, gnus, and other built-in packages
which aren't "super-core" (i.e., not everybody needs them) from
emacs.git to elpa.git?  Then all points above still apply, and emacs
releases are a bit more lightweight.  I mean, for fast-evolving packages
like org and company, if emacs 25.1 bundles version X, the next day
version X+1 is available from ELPA anyway.

The only downside I can see is that users upgrading from Emacs 24 to 25
might get startup errors because formerly built-in packages aren't
anymore.  But that can be documented easily:

  If you used the built-in org-mode version in Emacs < 25, do

    1. emacs -Q
    2. M-x package-install RET org RET
    3. Now you can restart emacs without -Q

Or even better, there could be some hack that when emacs 25.1 is started
the first time puts the user in a package manager tutorial that guides
him thru the process of installing packages with an emphasis on formerly
built-in packages.

Bye,
Tassilo