Re: AUCTeX inclusion [Re: elpa.gnu.org repository sync with Emacs]

[Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com>]

On Sat, 20 Nov 2010 02:45:30 -0500 Dan Nicolaescu <dann@gnu.org> wrote: 

DN> The advantage of having things included in emacs proper is that one
DN> just has to make sure that has the emacs package installed, and
DN> everything else works.

I really don't think using package.el is any different.  Remember I'm
advocating to make a local install of the packages in the "elpa" branch
as part of the Emacs install from a fresh checkout or in a distro.  If
we do that, network access is unnecessary but users can still get an
updated package if they can contact the elpa.gnu.org server.  So if we
never release an updated package there's no difference, but if we do
have updates then the users don't have to update all of Emacs.

DN> These days users work on many machines: work, home, maybe a work
DN> laptop, a personal laptop, etc.  Having to configure each one of them
DN> is not ideal, it's better when things just work by default.
DN> AUCTeX is much better that the currently bundled latex/tex modes.

It's not hard to add wrappers that will trigger a package install if
necessary and will at least check if the version is the latest
available.  That would come really close to "work by default," probably
more so than the current situation.

Ted