Re: Moving packages out of core to ELPA

[JD Smith <jdtsmith@gmail.com>]

> On Feb 17, 2024, at 10:51 AM, Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:
> 
>> From: JD Smith <jdtsmith@gmail.com>
>> Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2024 09:40:19 -0500
>> 
>> There was a recent discussion about which lisp/progmodes packages belong in core.  A sentiment was
>> expressed that useful languages with non-negligible user bases should probably go in, and others should be
>> in ELPA.
>> 
>> I want to bring up a related point: it should be possible to retire packages from core, once their relevance
>> drops below a critical threshold [1].
> 
> We usually first retire such packages to lisp/obsolete/.  There, they
> are still available, but need to be loaded manually.  Moving something
> directly to ELPA might be too drastic, assuming someone somewhere
> still want to use it.

Does that reduce the maintenance burden, for example because code in lisp/obsolete does not receive updates to documentation, stylistic code changes, etc.?  Do you typically also remove the associated entry in auto-mode-alist when obsoleting in this fashion?