From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eli Zaretskii Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: document package.el Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:51:32 +0300 Message-ID: <83r5hrol3f.fsf@gnu.org> References: <83bp9ex3ro.fsf@gnu.org> Reply-To: Eli Zaretskii NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1282416610 14337 80.91.229.12 (21 Aug 2010 18:50:10 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:50:10 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Tom Tromey Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Aug 21 20:50:09 2010 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Omt8q-0007l4-Ek for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 21 Aug 2010 20:50:08 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:56612 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Omt8p-0003OA-KH for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:50:07 -0400 Original-Received: from [140.186.70.92] (port=40493 helo=eggs.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Omt8k-0003NT-7r for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:50:03 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Omt8i-0006HD-Bt for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:50:02 -0400 Original-Received: from mtaout23.012.net.il ([80.179.55.175]:62987) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Omt8i-0006H9-4A for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:50:00 -0400 Original-Received: from conversion-daemon.a-mtaout23.012.net.il by a-mtaout23.012.net.il (HyperSendmail v2007.08) id <0L7I00C00MX2VR00@a-mtaout23.012.net.il> for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:49:29 +0300 (IDT) Original-Received: from HOME-C4E4A596F7 ([77.127.220.100]) by a-mtaout23.012.net.il (HyperSendmail v2007.08) with ESMTPA id <0L7I00CRVMYGNDB0@a-mtaout23.012.net.il>; Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:49:29 +0300 (IDT) In-reply-to: X-012-Sender: halo1@inter.net.il X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Solaris 10 (beta) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:128987 Archived-At: > From: Tom Tromey > Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2010 12:22:56 -0600 > Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org > > Eli> Does package.el really support only .tar files? That sounds like an > Eli> unnecessary limitation, since Emacs supports much more. > > Emacs doesn't have built-in support for anything else. It relies on > external programs. Since I think it is best not to rely on the > environment this way, I purposely limited package.el. Most environments that have Emacs also have the external programs needed for the other formats. The difference between a hard limitation and a soft one (which is in effect only if the required program is not available) is that in the former case the user doesn't have any choice (except to hack package.el), while in the latter she can install the missing program and be done. > I still think this was a good decision, because it only affects > packagers, not users. "Only packagers"? What about a package I downloaded from elsewhere? I don't expect many packages nowadays to come in a .tar format. > Tom> + If the package has an info manual, you should distribute the needed > Tom> +info files, plus a @file{dir} file made with @command{install-info}. > > Eli> Not clear why the `dir' file is needed. Are you trying to support > Eli> users that don't have install-info on their systems? > > Yes. Why?