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

[Tassilo Horn <tsdh@gnu.org>]

Arash Esbati <arash@gnu.org> writes:

>> If there are packages on ELPA which we consider to be a must for
>> users (I don't think there are, but maybe I'm forgetting something),
>> lets add them to core instead.
>
> If Emacs considers in-buffer completion an important feature, then I'd
> say corfu and cape are must.  vertico and marginalia are also must in
> my book since they offer a better experience with vertical minibuffer
> completion.

Nice completion UIs are certainly a very important feature and I have
the same preferences as you.  But I don't see a reason why some specific
one has to be in core.  It has long been ivy and company, now it's
vertico and corfu, and in 2 years the hottest bets might be something
else.

I mean, it's easy to put things into core but hardly possible to remove
them again without annoying someone.

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...

> And while we're at it: There are sometimes requests for adding AUCTeX
> to core.  Do you have an opinion about that?

One practical question is what happens with stock tex-mode.el then.
Right now, when you install AUCTeX, it'll take over.  That would annoy
tex-mode users, I guess.

Also, I'm not sure if AUCTeX is not already past its prime time.
Preview-LaTeX is cool but IIRC doesn't work anymore with some popular
styles.  And document parsing in order to highlight user-defined
commands and offer them for completion is probably better done in some
LaTeX language server like texlab and then used with eglot or lsp-mode.

Bye,
  Tassilo