bug#39992: Merge external idlwave development efforts into GNU Emacs?

[Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>]

JD Smith <jdtsmith@gmail.com> writes:

> I’m happy for anyone to work on merging the latest IDLWAVE into Emacs,
> and I can assist with this process as time allows.  This might require
> some moderate effort, since I believe I refactored and simplified the
> code layout (in an attempt to attract a new maintainer) after my last
> push into emacs core.  This refactoring occurred around 20015/16. My
> last commit on GitHub was actually in 2018.

Thank you for your efforts in maintaining this package.  I don't
actually use it myself, so I only have a few observations on the
maintenance aspects below.

> I’ve also discussed with several of the emacs devels over the years
> moving IDLWAVE to a package on Elpa.  I think that’s a more
> appropriate home, since there are not terribly many users (as judged
> by the number of email queries I get now vs. a decade ago).

That makes sense to me.  I'm copying in Stefan Monnier, who is in charge
of GNU ELPA, in case he has anything to add.

> I still use IDLWAVE, but far more rarely than before.  There is
> currently a bug related to routine info scanning that I need to look
> into.  I’m happy to do this in the context of a merged core/elpa
> package if someone is able to lead that effort.  There were numerous
> changes on the emacs side based on obsoleted functions, etc. that I
> never found the time to bring over.

If we could get those changes merged into your version, perhaps we could
just replace the one in Emacs with yours?

It would of course be excellent if you could eventually find the time to
do that, and a priori it sounds like much less works than going the
other way around.

> And needless to say, if you know of any users of IDLWAVE who are
> interested in taking over maintenance and overseeing its re-folding
> back into the emacs core/elpa, I’d be delighted to speak with them.

I currently don't, unfortunately.  I suppose we shall have to wait and
see if there is someone interested.

Thanks again for getting back to us about this.