Re: [SPAM UNSURE] Maybe we're taking a wrong approach towards tree-sitter

[Arthur Miller <arthur.miller@live.com>]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: Arthur Miller <arthur.miller@live.com>
>> Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2021 15:30:42 +0200
>> Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org
>> 
>> >                                                       and also about
>> > decreasing the maintenance load.
>> Sure, but it is also a limitation. If Emacs will rely on TS maintainers
>> to create new grammars and update existing ones when language changes,
>> it means Emacs users will have to wait for changes until they are
>> fixed upstream, similar as how gnu/linux distros work regarding
>> packaging.
>
> We have the same "problem" with every other library we use: the image
> libraries, GnuTLS, HarfBuzz, etc.
>
> Besides, TS is used by quite a few projects, so how long do you think
> it will take for serious problems in language support to be fixed?

Yes, I understand that, I didn't meant so much problems as general
configurability after pesonal preferences and extendability. That is
what people seem to praise on Reddit when it comes to Emacs.

> OTOH, take a look at some places in Emacs that don't have active
> maintainers: problems there sometimes take forever to fix.  This is
> what happens when a project wants to control everything in its domain,
> but lacks manpower for doing so.
>
> It is not reasonable to expect Emacs to have experts on board for
> parsing every language on the face of Earth.  It won't work.
>
>> I don't know, I am maybe overly sceptical to TS; I don't mean it is a
>> bad package, and I am sure it has it's place in other editors, I am just
>> not sure how it fits in Emacs where everything is easily configurable
>> and extensible.
>
> Not everything.  Again, take the other optional libraries we use as
> examples: they cannot be extended inside Emacs.


TS is a bit special library since it hooks into a part of Emacs that
people do extend often but I do understand it is just a library that
adds some extra value like the others. I guess you are correct about its
popularity among other projects, that might do work for Emacs indeed. As
Ergus pointed out it will bring lots out of the box to many people, so I
guess it is a win at least in that section.

Thanks for the answer.