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To: XEmacs Developers <xemacs-beta@xemacs.org>
Subject: Re: xemacs "flavours" of packages
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From: Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic@srce.hr>
Date: 08 Apr 1997 02:23:11 +0200
In-Reply-To: Kyle Jones's message of Mon, 7 Apr 1997 20:02:28 -0400 (EDT)
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Kyle Jones <kyle_jones@wonderworks.com> writes:

> If the maintainer is gone, should we include a package?  My opinion
> "no."  Somebody has to fix the bugs.  There will always be bugs.

This leads to the conclusion that many of the packages that work
flawlessly should be excluded, just because they have no maintainer,
and "there will always be bugs".  `man.el' is the first that comes to
mind, but I'm sure there are more.

> Expecting the C code caretaker to take on this added burden should
> be viewed by said caretaker as a deathtrap.  Package system to the
> rescue!  If a package stops working with some future version of
> XEmacs we simply remove it from the official package tree.

That's another matter entirely.  But if the package is useful, someone
will probably volunteer to fix it.  If noone does that, the package
probably wasn't useful enough to be included in the first place. :-)

> End of problem.  Yah, some people will yell, but unless they step
> forward and take responsibility they can keep right on yelling.

Agreed.

> Do we change the version number?  For behavioral changes, yes.
> For just changing defvar's to defcustom, no.

But what about changing `make-face' + stuff to `defface'?  custom
changes are small, but could conceivably lead to some bugs.  A sign of
minor-version change is useful IMHO.

> The GPL requires that any modifications by third parties be annoted;
> we should make sure we do that via prominent code comments.  Try to
> get the author to accept any changes if they are still alive and
> active, lest we blindside and enrage them.  If they don't like the
> change, rename the package to something else if we've just gotta
> have it.  The latter should be rare.

All agreed, again.

-- 
Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic@srce.hr> | Student at FER Zagreb, Croatia
--------------------------------+--------------------------------
Oh lord won't you buy me a color TV...

