From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eli Zaretskii Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Should native compilation be enabled by default? Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2024 10:13:39 +0200 Message-ID: <86a5n916q4.fsf@gnu.org> References: <86sf19p0hw.fsf@gnu.org> Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="20094"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" Cc: acorallo@gnu.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org To: rms@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Fri Mar 08 09:14:36 2024 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1riVNC-0004zw-9M for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Fri, 08 Mar 2024 09:14:34 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1] helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1riVMc-0002pg-53; Fri, 08 Mar 2024 03:13:59 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1riVMW-0002jL-72 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 08 Mar 2024 03:13:52 -0500 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::e]) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1riVMV-00068O-Uk for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 08 Mar 2024 03:13:51 -0500 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gnu.org; s=fencepost-gnu-org; h=References:Subject:In-Reply-To:To:From:Date: mime-version; bh=Iacwb/X/ryoKM28VyFN2zsX9qAbG94AU5I3sDALbl8I=; b=J1zLFAZcTLQX DHnhoypAIDzChxzPiE9bMxD7GmN6422ok8dktrzo2oTrpW5EA59A6duONC79H5M5xhDaf4Jb645oG V2UihJan7xX5vs7IA3T5nhEExspnsmIR7fQgs+gdigi10RxPLnqYIPhupX8q53Wfn06tnqwSmqB42 BplWL+Yr5X836g7lzRba0c+AUkr72qR2+Lbsd09tPTkDesCyJMy4/u8eL1f+3Yvn5Vtjwl5gpXTqu BQGoEp373ls+6+gc1krf44Nzr2BkyU3w61K17Zb07srsko6g09XewDcHfBguZTfkdks2yo3+bMC15 MP+MubH2/FkziQo4J51wGw==; In-Reply-To: (message from Richard Stallman on Thu, 07 Mar 2024 21:29:51 -0500) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.devel:316890 Archived-At: > From: Richard Stallman > Cc: eliz@gnu.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org > Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2024 21:29:51 -0500 > > > Anyway as a data point: AFAIK major distros decided since a while to > > ship with native compilation as (I assume) they deemed it beneficial for > > their users. > > I ssppose so. But the fact that they think so is not a convincing > argument for us. > > If we poll the users, we would have a basis to conclude that those > distros' choice is wise, or that it was hasty and unwise. It is > better to make sure of this than to follow the herd. We in effect polled the users already: we have the experience of 2 major Emacs releases under our belt that provided native compilation as an opt-in feature. Based on that experience, we know that most people do use native compilation, and many even compile all the Lisp files ahead of time (instead of relying on JIT compilation when a Lisp file is first loaded into Emacs). And the fact that distros decided to ship Emacs with native compilation is another indication that users like it, and are not bothered with the few downsides, especially if they don't have to build the *.eln files themselves. We could decide that this evidence is not enough for us if we had some basis for thinking there are problems lurking under the surface that we should consider. But we have no such evidence, so I don't see why we should try digging deeper for signs of problems which are at this point purely imaginary, at least from where I stand (and that includes my own personal experience).