Re: Emacs 23 Mac port

[David Reitter <david.reitter@gmail.com>]

On Nov 17, 2010, at 9:57 AM, Ted Zlatanov wrote:
> 
> Right, but here we have posts saying your Mac port is much better than
> the NS port.  We should at least consider what's different, how the NS
> port can be improved, and if your Mac port should be reconsidered as the
> main Mac OS X port.  So I asked about the Carbon support because that
> was a concern last time; your response and opinion are, as always,
> greatly appreciated.

Yes, please consider this.

I'm not against it, but I'd like to suggest some mitigation w.r.t. four points:

1. Maintainability:  NS/Cocoa is cleaner code.  It's a cleaner, more modern API.    That's one reason why I like the NS port.

2. GNUStep support.  This might increase the chances of having more people work on it.

3. The existing, very substantial investment in code specific to the NS port (third party).  The 22/Carbon to 23/NS switchover was a major, major shift, with a substantial amount of time being invested in writing C-level and Lisp-level functions.  It is possible that a lot of this (e.g., printing, toolbar customization) can be ported easily to the 24/Appkit, but we don't know that.

4. Lack of integration in Bzr/Git.  Why is this not a branch in the repository?

Especially point 3 is my major concern.  I'd like to support the many users of this code.  A switch to the Appkit port may require such substantial extra work, for little benefit.

There are arguments in favor of the Appkit port, both technically, but also by way of YM supporting and developing it very actively.