Re: Emacs 29.0.50 Snapshot binaries for WIndows

[chad <yandros@gmail.com>]

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On Mon, Feb 21, 2022 at 7:32 AM Tim Cross <theophilusx@gmail.com> wrote:

> [...] ensure the snapshot complies with distrobution specific package
> formats
> and installation standards. For example, Debian and Ubuntu have
> additional Emacs site code to support those distros ability to have
> multiple versions of Emacs installed at the same time. It also means
> users can install the snapshots using the package management system they
> are familiar with and there is less chance of causing issues when their
> distro updates to newer versions.
>

This is a subtle but important point for anyone who is interested in
semi-frequent snapshots (as opposed to releases). Under Windows, macOS, and
a small subset of other systems (like Snap and Flatpak), these snapshots
are typically contained to a single app-specific directory. Adding one is
another directory; moving or removing one is likewise a single directory
operation. On the other hand, the installed version of emacs on most
GNU/Linux systems ends up with directories in several different
directories, often in similar but not identical places from one distro to
the next. This means that whatever tools are used to manage the snapshots
need to track where things were added and, when multiple versions are
installed simultaneously, which are to be removed (or shared, or
overwritten). This sort of operation gets very quickly into the specifics
of a distro, and thus is better handled within the mechanisms of that
distro. Thankfully, this is already being done (and not just recently), for
all of the major distros as far as I know, as well as for systems like Snap
and (different but perhaps related) Docker.

Hope that helps,
~Chad

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