From: Thomas Lord <lord@emf.net>
To: "Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@xemacs.org>
Cc: Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>,
hannes@saeurebad.de, rms@gnu.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org
Subject: Re: Release plans
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:31:06 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <48AAF54A.9020305@emf.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <87wsidnxqp.fsf@uwakimon.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp>
Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> Alan Mackenzie writes:
>
> > The analysis from you and Tom falls short of mathematical perfection.
> > Unless I'm mistaken, it focusses purely on the effects it would have on
> > knowledgeable automous hackers.
>
> I don't speak for Tom, but my analysis falls short of perfection. As
> I say, you should apply such standard to yourself, as well.
>
My analysis falls short of perfection as well, but by the
perfect amount, of course.
Seriously, Alan is being kind of read-only here. Nothing
I've said limits attention to only the "effects [...] on
knowledgeable [autonomous] hackers."
> > You and T regard only the freedom of the informed automous hacker
> > as important.
>
> I am very offended. I could not have imagined that you would stoop so
> low.
>
Moreover, neither of us has written anything that suggests
we even consider "informed autonomous hackers" as a special
case.
> > I don't think you see the point I'm making, and your analysis is
> > oblivious to that point, so I disregard it. Maybe.
>
> No. I understand your point. "Introducing a module loader could
> cause Emacs to become non-free." That's scary.
>
> In the light of day, though, I don't believe it's going to happen.
>
For the record, where Stephen and I take different tacks is
that Stephen argues that scary outcome is improbable. I don't
bother (since it ultimately is just speculation). Rather, I'm willing
to assume (without proof, and although I believe it unlikely) that
non-free add-ons will appear and be popular. That is still no
argument against the feature, which ought to be judged by what
*free software* it can give rise to.
> > Tom, in his reply, simply failed to address this central issue of
> > my post. An apology, please.
>
> I'm not in a position to apologize on behalf of Tom.
I repeatedly stipulated that, sure, let's assume the "worst case"
outcome is certain (although we don't have any good reason to
believe that, really).
> > Up to now, you and Tom have been asserting that calling external binaries
> > is critically important and very useful.
>
> No, I haven't.
I've said that it can be, if well designed. I like some of the
use ideas Stephen is putting forward.
Other use ideas:
Link in a DOM library and add new lisp types for
that.
Link in database clients (MySQL?, DB XML, Exist, etc.).
Link in incremental parsers for various programming languages
(for syntax directed editing modes).
Link in various scripting language interpreters.
etc.
It could well be that GNU Emacs is essentially moribund
no matter what is done (dynamic loader or no). I certainly
can't predict with certainty that a dynamic loader would
be used or for what. On general principles and by analogy
to the history of other systems (e.g., Apache), dynamic loaders
do get used, in clever ways, and help turn a lot of separate
programs into a recombinant toolkit of components. Meanwhile,
they don't complicate the internals of a program very much
at all and are easy to maintain.
The biggest drawbacks to them are:
a) It complicates bug report handling to have to always
ask "What versions of which add-ons did you have loaded?"
b) Creating a stable, portable, useful API requires some
thought and doing a poor job of it is probably worse than
not doing the job at all.
-t
> I've simply said I don't see enough risk, even given
> the nightmarish consequences you envision, to outweigh the benefits I
> see.
>
>
>
>
>
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2008-08-19 16:31 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 338+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2008-08-12 14:34 Release plans A Soare
2008-08-12 14:52 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 17:14 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-13 6:26 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-13 9:20 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-14 5:19 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-14 8:38 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-14 9:33 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 9:49 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-14 10:04 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 10:30 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-14 11:07 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 11:44 ` Tassilo Horn
2008-08-14 12:27 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-15 12:45 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-14 12:39 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-14 13:15 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 13:28 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-14 13:41 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 17:08 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-14 14:30 ` Gilaras Drakeson
2008-08-14 18:00 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-15 12:45 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 14:18 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-15 17:54 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-15 12:45 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 16:29 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-16 10:40 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-14 10:37 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-14 11:24 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 12:54 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-14 13:31 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 14:02 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-14 16:55 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-15 12:45 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-16 1:41 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-17 7:16 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 3:41 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 4:04 ` Sean O'Rourke
2008-08-15 20:12 ` Michael Ekstrand
2008-08-15 5:08 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-16 0:08 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-16 5:14 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-15 17:20 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-16 10:39 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-16 12:05 ` joakim
2008-08-17 7:16 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-17 9:32 ` joakim
2008-08-18 6:14 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-18 7:19 ` Tassilo Horn
2008-08-18 8:03 ` Stefan Monnier
2008-08-18 8:26 ` joakim
2008-08-19 12:21 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-19 13:02 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-20 3:47 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-20 5:20 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-19 13:42 ` Tassilo Horn
2008-08-20 3:48 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-18 14:20 ` Gilaras Drakeson
2008-08-18 17:13 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-18 17:42 ` Paul R
2008-08-19 12:21 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-20 0:01 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-21 23:09 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-22 0:34 ` whither GNU Thomas Lord
2008-08-22 0:17 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-08-22 3:40 ` David Robinow
2008-08-22 7:36 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-23 5:09 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-22 10:21 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-08-22 21:31 ` Thomas Lord
[not found] ` <858wuoad0u.fsf@lola.goethe.zz>
2008-08-23 4:56 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-16 16:29 ` Release plans Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-16 21:04 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-16 21:35 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-16 22:43 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-17 7:31 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-18 0:01 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-18 10:18 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-18 17:58 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-18 20:20 ` Dynamic loading (was: Release plans) Stefan Monnier
2008-08-18 22:18 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-20 16:15 ` Dynamic loading Stefan Monnier
2008-08-20 16:57 ` joakim
2008-08-25 13:09 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-26 16:37 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-18 21:09 ` Release plans Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-18 23:27 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-19 10:23 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-19 11:56 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-19 9:46 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-19 12:36 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-20 5:55 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-20 17:48 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-25 1:34 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-25 10:47 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-25 13:13 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-25 15:19 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-25 17:11 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-26 4:10 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-26 10:59 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-27 5:00 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-27 11:37 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-28 5:42 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-28 10:17 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-26 16:37 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-26 18:14 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-27 18:54 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-27 20:33 ` Paul R
2008-08-29 2:41 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-29 5:34 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-29 11:39 ` Bruce Stephens
2008-08-29 13:11 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-29 19:23 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-29 20:03 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-08-29 20:20 ` Stefan Monnier
2008-08-29 20:53 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-29 23:24 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-29 22:56 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-30 19:51 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-08-30 23:07 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-31 9:09 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-08-29 22:53 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-31 9:27 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-08-29 19:13 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-29 23:48 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-09-01 6:11 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-09-01 18:25 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-27 22:32 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-27 21:57 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-28 0:10 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-29 2:40 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-29 5:30 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-27 22:09 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-28 1:10 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-01 6:11 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-09-01 18:09 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-02 1:09 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-09-02 2:18 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-02 14:13 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-09-02 20:48 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-01 18:20 ` Stefan Monnier
2008-09-01 20:17 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-01 19:53 ` Stefan Monnier
2008-09-01 21:23 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-02 3:26 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-09-02 20:43 ` Thomas Lord
2008-09-03 5:08 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-27 23:09 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-28 0:22 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-28 1:01 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-26 21:25 ` joakim
2008-08-29 2:41 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-19 15:52 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-25 14:39 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-25 22:01 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-25 22:19 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-26 4:54 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-26 7:16 ` ["agree"] " Thomas Lord
2008-08-27 5:10 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-27 16:00 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-26 10:02 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-27 5:38 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-27 21:06 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-27 21:12 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-28 20:01 ` Sean Sieger
2008-08-28 6:07 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-27 15:57 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-08-27 18:33 ` tomas
2008-08-28 6:09 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-28 8:14 ` tomas
2008-08-28 7:25 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-28 8:23 ` tomas
2008-08-28 6:26 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-19 16:31 ` Thomas Lord [this message]
2008-08-20 3:47 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-20 6:14 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-19 12:21 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-19 13:04 ` Paul R
2008-08-20 3:48 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-17 2:37 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-17 8:01 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-17 17:42 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-17 21:07 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-17 21:24 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-17 21:33 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-17 22:31 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-18 3:06 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-18 6:14 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-17 21:45 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-08-18 6:14 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-18 17:09 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-19 16:28 ` René Kyllingstad
2008-08-20 3:48 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-17 7:16 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 3:41 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 17:17 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-16 10:40 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-16 7:14 ` Alfred M. Szmidt
2008-08-14 17:24 ` Stefan Monnier
2008-08-15 3:41 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 14:04 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-15 15:10 ` [OT] " Yavor Doganov
2008-08-16 7:05 ` Miles Bader
2008-08-17 7:16 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-15 16:35 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-15 18:07 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-16 10:40 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-16 10:40 ` Richard M. Stallman
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2008-08-14 15:36 Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-14 15:51 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-14 21:00 ` Robert J. Chassell
2008-08-14 22:58 ` Johannes Weiner
[not found] <SRV-ADEXCHyjlMFAVNL0000090e@waccglobal.org>
2008-08-13 14:07 ` Mike Rowse
2008-08-13 1:30 A Soare
2008-08-12 20:51 A Soare
2008-08-12 21:35 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 20:16 christophe
2008-08-12 18:57 A Soare
2008-08-12 18:54 A Soare
2008-08-12 18:58 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 18:41 A Soare
2008-08-12 18:46 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 18:55 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-08-12 18:38 A Soare
2008-08-12 18:36 A Soare
2008-08-12 18:04 A Soare
2008-08-12 18:21 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 18:25 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 15:34 A Soare
2008-08-12 15:59 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 13:51 A Soare
2008-08-12 13:37 A Soare
2008-08-12 13:50 ` martin rudalics
2008-08-12 17:16 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-12 14:02 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 14:54 ` Paul R
2008-08-12 18:37 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-08-12 19:16 ` Óscar Fuentes
2008-08-12 19:41 ` Paul R
2008-08-12 13:11 A Soare
2008-08-12 13:20 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-08-12 15:54 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-13 6:26 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-13 7:05 ` Johannes Weiner
2008-08-12 13:24 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 12:21 A Soare
2008-08-12 12:33 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 13:42 ` Michael Ekstrand
2008-08-13 6:27 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-13 7:14 ` Alex Ott
2008-08-12 14:45 ` Miles Bader
2008-08-12 14:56 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-12 16:47 ` Drew Adams
2008-08-13 20:20 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-12 18:34 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-08-05 2:53 dhruva
2008-08-05 4:43 ` tomas
2008-08-05 21:48 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-07-31 9:54 dhruva
2008-07-31 22:01 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-30 9:58 dhruva
2008-07-31 1:59 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-31 9:30 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-07-31 22:01 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-08-01 14:15 ` Frank Schmitt
2008-08-01 14:51 ` Miles Bader
2008-08-02 5:12 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-08-02 7:20 ` Frank Schmitt
2008-08-03 1:33 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-03 11:38 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-08-03 22:42 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-03 23:16 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-08-04 15:55 ` Davi Leal
2008-08-05 21:48 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-12 4:48 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-12 7:30 ` Miles Bader
2008-08-12 15:37 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-12 10:32 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-12 16:08 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-13 20:20 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-03 13:48 ` Nic
2008-08-03 22:42 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-01 15:31 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-02 5:12 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-08-02 17:12 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-02 23:46 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-03 1:33 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-03 18:01 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-04 15:33 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-12 4:24 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-12 10:32 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-12 16:12 ` Thomas Lord
2008-08-03 1:33 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-03 17:51 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-04 15:33 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-04 19:08 ` Alan Mackenzie
2008-08-05 8:05 ` Richard M. Stallman
2008-08-01 17:39 ` Davi Leal
2008-08-02 5:12 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-14 15:07 Chong Yidong
2008-07-17 0:27 ` Juri Linkov
2008-07-17 6:41 ` David Kastrup
2008-07-21 4:49 ` Chong Yidong
2008-07-21 8:06 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-07-21 13:32 ` Chong Yidong
2008-07-21 14:19 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-07-23 20:52 ` Michael Albinus
2008-07-23 21:42 ` Chong Yidong
2008-07-26 7:39 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-07-26 21:33 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-27 3:22 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-07-27 17:14 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-27 19:14 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-07-28 21:46 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-29 3:12 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-07-30 3:47 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-30 17:33 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-07-28 13:43 ` Juri Linkov
2008-07-28 14:10 ` Chong Yidong
2008-07-28 14:33 ` Juri Linkov
2008-07-29 17:11 ` Chong Yidong
2008-07-29 17:54 ` Stefan Monnier
2008-07-29 15:21 ` Roland Winkler
2008-08-02 17:34 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-08-09 18:29 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-08-09 18:34 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-08-09 19:06 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-07-31 2:10 ` Bastien
2008-07-31 2:43 ` Chong Yidong
2008-07-31 8:06 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-01 2:53 ` Bastien
2008-08-01 19:26 ` Jay Belanger
2008-08-01 19:32 ` Chong Yidong
2008-08-02 16:12 ` Jay Belanger
2008-08-02 4:08 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2008-08-02 17:30 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-08-05 4:04 ` Bill Wohler
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