Re: IDE

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>
> Cc: Tom <adatgyujto@gmail.com>,  emacs-devel@gnu.org
> Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2015 11:00:46 +0200
> 
> attempts of letting GCC similarly output AST data were rejected as
> making it too easy to support non-free applications (obviously, if
> Emacs can use GCC for purposes of syntax analysis from the command
> line, so can anybody else).

That's not how that discussion ended.  It ended by Richard saying he
wanted to study the issue in more depth, before making his decision.

In any case, libcc1 is a fait accompli, for several months at least,
and still no one (AFAIK) investigated whether it can serve as basis
for any of the IDE-related features.

> You get the drift.  A number of would-be contributors, partly with
> solutions or the impetus and skills for creating them, finally went
> elsewhere in disgust rather than trying to figure out the maze of which
> interoperations between GNU applications were acceptable and which not.

Yes, that's the "hurt feelings" part of my previous message.

I agree that you need to have some serious will power, perseverance,
and sometimes just stubbornness to get stuff like that done.  I still
hope motivated individuals with enough of that will emerge.

> So "no one is working on that, though everyone is talking" is sort of an
> unfair characterization because it implies that no one was willing to
> put his money and time where his mouth is.

Well, they are not willing badly enough.

Sorry for being blunt, but that's my opinion, being the one who did
something similar, for 10 years, with a task that, given its size and
complexity, was clearly beyond my humble talents.  To this day, I
still don't understand how I succeeded.

> So people's hands are bound until a complete plan has been worked out
> and/or blessed by Richard

No one's hands are bound.  Whoever is motivated enough will find a way
to bypass the restrictions and limitations.  It certainly means more
work, but that's life.

> and shouting "no one is working on that" is disingenuous.

It's a simple fact.  There's nothing disingenuous in reiterating
facts.  If people are unhappy about such a blunt representation of the
facts, then that's fine by me: I actually want people to become
unhappy, because that just might cause someone to stop complaining and
start working.