A small(er) Emacs (was: Why not include all ELPA packages in an Emacs release?)

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

> But just keep in mind that there are situations, where the platform
> must deploy Emacs on, might not be as relaxed WRT disk space... And
> it's not about a specific package, it's about a trickle of packages
> becoming a flood...

Emacs tarballs have grown over the years, some versions growing
very significantly.  Is it a concern?  Yes, to some extent.
Is it worth the effort of making a "slim Emacs" option?  Apparently not
because I don't know of anyone who has gone through the effort of
actually making it a reality.

IME if your target has enough disk constraints that installing the
full Emacs is a concern, you're probably better served by one of:
- Another editor (e.g. Zile).
- Tramp.
- just installing the full Emacs anyway.

If you think you have a good use case where a "slim Emacs" is better
than the above options, then by all means, get working on a patch.
If it's simple&clean enough we may even accept it.
I'm not holding my breath.


        Stefan