Re: [ELPA] new package: sndio.el

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

Philip Kaludercic [2021-11-14 18:32:09] wrote:
> Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:
>>> From what I see, if I were to download and run the package on a GNU
>>> System without sndio, there wouldn't be any clear error message
>>> indicating what went wrong, just an error message indicating that
>>> sndioctl has failed, right? (this is just from reading and using faulty
>>> mental evaluation). If the package is to be added to GNU ELPA, you
>>> should probably add a explicit error message (perhaps even at compile
>>> time) to clarify what is missing, and that the package isn't mean to
>>> work on this system.
>>
>> From where I stand, OTOH, I'd ask not to emit an error or warning during
>> compilation (e.g. I compile all the files in elpa.git and I don't have
>> sndio).  Similarly, don't sign an error when loading `sndio.el` (a
>> warning is tolerable).
>
> I did not consider that.  In that case a warning/error is certainly not
> acceptable.
>
> It should probably suffice to just throw an error when calling the
> autoloaded `sndio' command.

Signaling errors when the package is actually used makes a lot of
sense, yes.

Just to be clear: I haven't looked at the code, so I'm only speaking
on matters of principles here.


        Stefan