Re: CVS repository synchronization for RefTeX

[David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>]

Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

>       The
>     HEAD of CC mode is _much_ less suited to be released with Emacs 22 if
>     I have understood things correctly.
>
> When packages are maintained inside Emacs, people work on development
> somewhat differently, implementing improvements with an eye towards
> releasing them in the next Emacs release.

Uh, reality check.  The situation with RefTeX is that nobody works on
it any which way except Carsten, and he is passing on the buck because
he no longer has time for it.

So the current situation is that RefTeX is not maintained, whether in
Emacs or outside of it, and that is what we have to start with.  Now
the question is where we can hope to get the most attention for it.

In the Emacs repository, we have a tex-mode.el that gets very little
attention from Emacs developers.  Mainly Stefan Monnier if I am not
mistaken.  If one takes a look at who did changes to RefTeX in the
past, it is very basically a one-man show, more so than tex-mode.el.

RefTeX's approach is an "all-around" one, similar to AUCTeX's.  At the
current point of time, RefTeX can only be used for LaTeX, and there
are very few people actually writing LaTeX in Emacs without using
AUCTeX.  Those that prefer using the minimal tex-mode.el are not
usually the kind of people that use comprehensive tools like RefTeX (I
seem to remember that Carsten did not know of anybody using RefTeX at
the current point of time with tex-mode.el or other LaTeX modes).

RefTeX even has its own section in the AUCTeX quick reference sheets,
and there are a few references to it in the AUCTeX manual.

Ultimately, I hope that the point will become mostly moot by AUCTeX
being folded into Emacs.  However, I still think a separate repository
like with Gnus makes sense, and the time frame for folding AUCTeX into
Emacs will probably be still years because of copyright paper reasons
(we are progressing there, but not really fast).

It is my opinion that the chances of RefTeX getting more development
done on will be better with RefTeX in the AUCTeX repository rather
than Emacs.  So I'd definitely prefer a solution where the Emacs CVS
contained mostly a variant of RefTeX intended for release with Emacs
only.

Having the RefTeX infrastructure scattered across the Emacs CVS
repository will rather get us fewer developers willing to actively
touch it than even the current situation.

I mean, let us just ask: are there any Emacs developers listening who
can imagine themselves working on RefTeX?  If so, would they think
using the Emacs CVS more convenient for them than the AUCTeX
repository?

Of those who would consider working on RefTeX, how many have an
assignment and/or CVS write access for Emacs, and how many for AUCTeX?

-- 
David Kastrup