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Subject: Re: Packaging criteria
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From: Steven L Baur <steve@miranova.com>
In-Reply-To: Hrvoje Niksic's message of 18 Apr 1997 05:59:24 +0200
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Date: 17 Apr 1997 23:40:34 -0700
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Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic@srce.hr> writes:

> I propose the following:

> 1) All the "small" (one-file) lisp packages that we want to have
>    should go into core.  There is little sense in obtaining a strokes
>    "package".

I disagree.  If we do this we need most of everything.  Some of
these one-file lisp packages have heavy dependencies (example:
webster-www.el).  The package system should be able to deal with
single file packages.

>    The exceptions are, of course, the packages we don't think are
>    important enough to be in the core -- we'll have to make a revision
>    of what we have/need.  I can be of help here, as I've just browsed
>    through almost all of the XEmacs lisp sources.

I had in mind a more spartan approach.  We cannot do word processing
now and we're merely a text editor, albeit with some interesting
extensions.  I had in mind for the Latin-1 core nothing more than
basic text editing support + cl + custom + gnats + outgoing mail
(message mode).[1]  MULE is separated from the source at the file level
(not at the ifdef level).

> 2) All the "big" packages (Gnus, VM, W3, Hyperbole, etc.)  should be
>    distributed as the add-on packages.  The exception can be those
>    that we consider exceptionally important, like cc-mode.

And cl and custom? :-)

Per Abrahamsen has made a case for having portions of W3 in the core
and it makes some sense.  (ie. I'm weakening in my stand against this)

> 3) If we have the will and the interest, we can make a Sumo XEmacs
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>    distribution, with the core + our selection of packages.  It would
>    be something akin to XEmacs the way it is now.

I'll buy that so long as it is done separately from the core.

> This would insure that XEmacs is small and sweet (as long as you can
> call 10M tarballs small and sweet), and that fanatics like me and my
> local XEmacs converts can get their Sumo XEmacs whenever they want.

Of course.

>> My goal is to make the XEmacs 20.2/Latin-1 core tarball smaller than
>> the first release of Lucid Emacs as XEmacs (~9.5MB).  The smaller the
>> better.

> I think around 12M should be our limit.  9.5 looks too optimistic.

Too easy, and if you don't aim high, you'll never reach your goal.
Remember, everything in a package is separately maintained and is not
in the critical path of a release.

Footnotes: 
[1]  Go ahead and flame me.  Be aware that the line between core &
package is fluid/negotiable and will be so for much time into the
future.

-- 
steve@miranova.com baur
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