Re: Adding major or popular language modes to Emacs distribution

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>
> Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2021 23:12:41 +0000
> Cc: Emacs Devel mailing list <emacs-devel@gnu.org>
> 
> > I notice some glaring omissions of modes supporting major / popular
> > languages like php, haskell and wikitext in Emacs, though there are
> > widely used versions available externally as packages.
> 
> See the thread "Re: NonGNU ELPA work" from today: I submitted patches
> for NonGNU ELPA, the repository that has been enabled for Emacs 28+,
> adding new major modes, so that they can be installed without any
> further configuration.

That's not the same as having these come with Emacs in the first
place.

> > I feel it is important that Emacs support these languages natively.
> 
> Why natively? With packages like gnu-elpa, the user can be notified when
> a major mode exists for a file they have opened. The advantage is that
> bug-fixes and improvements are not tied to Emacs releases but can happen
> concurrently. The disadvantage is that it requires an internet
> connection.

It sounds like your vision of the role of the ELPA repositories vs
what comes bundled with Emacs is different from the current project's
vision.  In which case it would help if in the future you mentioned
that you don't speak for the project, to make that clear to people who
don't necessarily know who is who in the project.

> > What is the process of adding these modes?  My understanding is:
> >
> > 1. Ask the maintainer of a mode to contribute the mode to Emacs.
> 
> And any significant contributor have to sign the FSF copyright
> agreement.

Right.