Re: Why not include all ELPA packages in an Emacs release?

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Po Lu <luangruo@yahoo.com>
> Cc: Arash Esbati <arash@gnu.org>,  Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>,  Stefan
>  Kangas <stefankangas@gmail.com>,  jb@jeremybryant.net,
>   emacs-devel@gnu.org,  monnier@iro.umontreal.ca,  philipk@posteo.net
> Date: Thu, 30 May 2024 15:55:56 +0800
> 
> Tassilo Horn <tsdh@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> > FWIW, I'd rather move more stuff from core to ELPA and add mechanics to
> > install from ELPA easily.  use-package was one such thing but I imagine
> > a mechanism that would provide package suggestions, e.g., like asking a
> > user to install toml-mode when finding a toml file for the first time,
> > or suggesting to install calc or calculator when typing calc at the M-x
> > prompt...
> 
> Definitely not.  calc-mode is one of those packages that are intimately
> connected to functionality provided in core, and it would be a
> tremendous inconvenience if Emacs developers were required to install
> changes in more than one repository when the next core change with
> far-reaching consequences, such as bignums had, comes along.

Packages that will be moved to ELPA (when that happens) should have
their dedicated maintainers, and it will be the job of those
maintainers to adapt to any changes in Emacs that affect each package.

I see no show-stoppers there, FWIW.

> I think it is generally counterproductive to deny or impair our control
> over the distribution and maintenance of packages, whether they be also
> published on ELPA or not.  As no one has suggested that the quantity of
> code being maintained in the repository now has become an intolerable
> burden, let us not invent imaginary problems and, with them, paralyzing
> solutions.

The issues which led us to seriously consider moving some core
packages to ELPA are not imaginary, they are very real.