Re: [PROPOSAL] Builder, a build system integration for Emacs

[Gregory Heytings <gregory@heytings.org>]

>> You are confusing two different things: distros which distribute 
>> binaries to end-users (Debian and others) and source code repositories.
>
> We make a distinction, but it's not exacty that distinction as described 
> in the lines above.
>

Indeed, my words were not accurate enough.

>
> On one hand, we have distros.  A distro lists programs that in principle 
> you may wish to install side by side in one computer.  (Yes, it has more 
> wrinkles than that, but that's the basic point.)  You're likely to see 
> all of them as choices for what you might install.
>
> On the other hand, we have repo sites where in principle anyone can put 
> a program.  Those programs are not all meant to be potentially used 
> together.  They may even be written for different platforms. Basically, 
> the packages in a repo site are not a menu of packages to install. 
> Being interested in one package there does not mean you want to know 
> about the other packages hosted there.
>
> That fundamental difference in purpose is the reason that we use 
> different criteria for judging distros and judging repo sites.  Their 
> respective criteria are based on their purposes.
>

With that clarified distinction, the crates.io registry is clearly in the 
category of "repo sites where in principle anyone can put a program" (or 
library).