From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Stephen Eilert" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Emacs Package Management Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 18:27:24 -0300 Message-ID: <485b0c380808011427n4d3144eey3f8daf3abac83bf4@mail.gmail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_Part_8339_33480850.1217626045009" X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1217626070 14255 80.91.229.12 (1 Aug 2008 21:27:50 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 21:27:50 +0000 (UTC) To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Aug 01 23:28:41 2008 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1KP2Aq-0006l4-3l for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:28:32 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:60217 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KP29v-0008Eh-FW for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:27:35 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KP29p-0008EG-De for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:27:29 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KP29m-0008DX-So for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:27:28 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=60543 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KP29m-0008DU-Pm for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:27:26 -0400 Original-Received: from rv-out-0708.google.com ([209.85.198.240]:28045) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1KP29m-0000oZ-MQ for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:27:26 -0400 Original-Received: by rv-out-0708.google.com with SMTP id k29so1289889rvb.6 for ; Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:27:25 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to :subject:mime-version:content-type; bh=fdghOkZ+nSTVnZgBnX+ylx8KmzD8zLxFb1B5WV/oYoA=; b=XCLdOdZZnswyOiUsXSa7Mxbh5kdQnVV4vN9nzdAc1Eo5piHYpO0q13NjHWPuxjQ8NO HIlr8LGpC+pc9ibONdPzDb6/k6Sm40xARZBfWU0G0CGwvRk56TdroRkKgq/So1DTdWKN 6ZiXHVBO9zYQhM3r8TSohB7m8YkP9Kro92BYA= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type; b=p1QzqkZMa0f+emKy7AzlM495fQXZh4+s1KVVm3Wm1iJIm1qTkGjUs+/fibV8ENMyXv tpdrEkZWwobRSlz7n9msWbmqPceQ3WCUOMshvQtImYUoURiS+VPIpreuhI/O4yKmH/f5 dj78k4jAZWVMvDi+NH8zJ0d4AwgTQT+TuZtbI= Original-Received: by 10.141.107.13 with SMTP id j13mr6176088rvm.276.1217626045020; Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:27:25 -0700 (PDT) Original-Received: by 10.141.115.15 with HTTP; Fri, 1 Aug 2008 14:27:24 -0700 (PDT) X-detected-kernel: by monty-python.gnu.org: Linux 2.6 (newer, 2) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:101927 Archived-At: ------=_Part_8339_33480850.1217626045009 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Disclaimer: I have no idea if I am flogging a dead horse. If so, please disregard. Compared to most people here, I am a pretty young Emacs user, barely a year and a half since I've "converted". However, my .emacs is already growing huge. Part of this is due to Ruby on Rails development. I had to gather quite a lot of scripts to do what I want (rails-mode, nxhtml-mode, rinari [for find-file-in-project], color-theme, rdebug) and so on. This setup *almost* works, as some of the scripts do not play well with each other. Since there appears to be work under way to get some IDE-like features into Emacs, I suppose some kind of "packaging system" wouldbe helpful. I have tried ELPA (http://tromey.com/elpa/) and loved its simplicity. It's an order of magnitude more convenient than seaching the web for a package, finding the appropriate download site, getting the latest revision, studying the README to figure out how to install it, copying it to .emacs.d and adding to .emacs... I am sure everyone here has done that, countless times. With a slightly improved system, we could have dependencies. This could make easier to solve the aforementioned problem of gathering multiple, independent packages from different sources. Also, some packages have built-in bug reporting, but not all of them do. Some of them are maintained in the Emacs Wiki, some are not maintained at all, some have changed places more than once. Getting a package system inside Emacs *could* allow for simpler updating and a simpler way to notify bugs. I am aware of emacsbug, but it does require the ability to send e-mails from inside Emacs and is not aware of packages (obviously). Has this already been tried before? My searches point to XEmacs, but I haven't installed it to see what its package manager looks like. Does anyone see a major flaw in a system like that? Or is it a matter of "show me the code and I'll comment"? ELPA could be the starting point. --Stephen programmer, n: A red eyed, mumbling mammal capable of conversing with inanimate monsters. ------=_Part_8339_33480850.1217626045009 Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline

Disclaimer: I have no idea if I am flogging a dead horse. If so, please disregard.

Compared to most people here, I am a pretty young Emacs user, barely a year and a half since I've "converted". However, my .emacs is already growing huge.

Part of this is due to Ruby on Rails development. I had to gather quite a lot of scripts to do what I want (rails-mode, nxhtml-mode, rinari [for find-file-in-project], color-theme, rdebug) and so on. This setup *almost* works, as some of the scripts do not play well with each other.

Since there appears to be work under way to get some IDE-like features into Emacs, I suppose some kind of "packaging system" wouldbe helpful. I have tried ELPA (http://tromey.com/elpa/) and loved its simplicity. It's an order of magnitude more convenient than seaching the web for a package, finding the appropriate download site, getting the latest revision, studying the README to figure out how to install it, copying it to .emacs.d and adding to .emacs... I am sure everyone here has done that, countless times.

With a slightly improved system, we could have dependencies. This could make easier to solve the aforementioned problem of gathering multiple, independent packages from different sources. 

Also, some packages have built-in bug reporting, but not all of them do. Some of them are maintained in the Emacs Wiki, some are not maintained at all, some have changed places more than once. Getting a package system inside Emacs *could* allow for simpler updating and a simpler way to notify bugs. I am aware of emacsbug, but it does require the ability to send e-mails from inside Emacs and is not aware of packages (obviously).

Has this already been tried before? My searches point to XEmacs, but I haven't installed it to see what its package manager looks like. 

Does anyone see a major flaw in a system like that? Or is it a matter of "show me the code and I'll comment"? ELPA could be the starting point.

--Stephen


programmer, n:
A red eyed, mumbling mammal capable of conversing with inanimate monsters.
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