[feature/internal-msys] thoughts of a more function windows package

[Phillip Lord]

Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:

>> The gzip thing is again your call (having gzip in the package is no
>> big deal, IMO).
>
> BTW, we don't really need a `gzip` executable as long as we have the
> `zlib-decompress-region` function, right?




Following on from this discussion, I have had a thought about a better
way of producing a more function windows download and have come up with
this idea, which is just to install msys inside the Emacs install
directory.

The plan would be during the installation run the newly installed
Emacs. This would download, unpack and configure msys2, as well as
install a variety of related packages (git, find, gzip, hunspell,
aspell, what ever). For those using the zip package of Emacs, they would
achieve the same thing by running a command.

I have given this a quick bash. It could be achieved without bloating
the Emacs download; I'd have to had xz to the Emacs installer to allow
me to unpack msys, but otherwise it would have no implications. I would
not need to host either msys2 nor its source on the Gnu FTP because,
this would all come from msys2. The installation process would be Emacs
driven, which would be easier for me to write. Emacs would remain using
the DLLs we ship with it and so stable, while the underlying msys2 would
be independently updateable. And, to all intents and purposes, it would
look like a normal windows app; packaged, bundled and installed in
directory.

What I have so far:

1) w32-msys-install

which updates msys and installs git as well as adds a loader to site-start.el

2) w32-msys-site-start.el

which updates the path and so

To be fully functional 1) would need to download msys and unpack it and
I'd need to hook it into the installer.

It would solve the question of what should I package -- I'd add some
basic utilities, and thereafter, the user could add what ever they
wanted.


Thoughts? Does this seem worth following up?

Phil