Re: [gmane.emacs.devel] Re: [ELPA] New package: vcl-mode

Re: [gmane.emacs.devel] Re: [ELPA] New package: vcl-mode

[Sergey Poznyakoff]

Hi Stefan,

> Not sure if you follow emacs-devel, so here's a separate copy,

Thanks a lot. I'm not subscribed to the list, indeed.
 
> Sounds good.  Do you have some branch with a VCS history we could
> include or should I add the file as-is, losing the history?

Yes, I do. The current repository for vcl-mode is available at

  http://git.gnu.org.ua/cgit/vcl-mode.git (to view online)
or
  git://git.gnu.org.ua/vcl-mode.git (to clone).

> BTW, I assume you intend to use the elpa.git version as the "upstream", right?

Yes, that's right.

> One more thing, while looking for a VCS history, I saw
> 
>     https://github.com/ssm/elisp/blob/master/vcl-mode.el
> 
> which apparently is the one advertised on
> 
>     https://varnish-cache.org/extras/index.html
> 
> How does your code compare to that one?

Yes, I'm aware of it. I tried to contact Stig a couple of years ago, but
unfortunately to no avail.

Stig's vcl-mode was written for VCL 2.0. It was last modified in
November, 2012. Since then the language has changed quite considerably,
especially with transition from v3.0 to v4.0.

The proposed vcl-mode.el was written from scratch. It supports VCL 4.0,
which is the version of the language used by the recent Varnish
releases. In fact, I've been using it since 2015 in my work, before
finally deciding to submit it.

Technically. it differs from Stig's version in that it delegates
indentation tasks to c-mode, instead of calculating indentation
directly. The syntax table was designed to closely match the
language. Finally, special parenthesis-matching function is provided, 
which takes into account the VCL-specific {" ... "} multi-line string
delimiters.

> The name conflict between the two packages could be a source of
> problems if both packages keep on living their own life.

Yes, indeed. This can be solved by naming my version vcl4-mode.el.
However, this can become misleading in the long run, e.g. if/when
VCL 5 appears, since I'm going to keep the mode in synch with any
changes in the language. 

Regards,
Sergey

Re: [gmane.emacs.devel] Re: [ELPA] New package: vcl-mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Sergey Poznyakoff <gray@gnu.org.ua>
> Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2018 09:50:26 +0200
> Cc: Steve Purcell <steve@sanityinc.com>, Stig Sandbeck Mathisen <ssm@fnord.no>
> 
> Yes, indeed. This can be solved by naming my version vcl4-mode.el.
> However, this can become misleading in the long run, e.g. if/when
> VCL 5 appears, since I'm going to keep the mode in synch with any
> changes in the language. 

I indeed think the file should be renamed, and I don't think
vl4-mode.el will be misleading in the long run.

But you could also choose another name, like nvcl-mode.el ("n" for
"new") or some such.

Thanks.

Re: [gmane.emacs.devel] Re: [ELPA] New package: vcl-mode

[Stefan Monnier]

>> Yes, indeed. This can be solved by naming my version vcl4-mode.el.
>> However, this can become misleading in the long run, e.g. if/when
>> VCL 5 appears, since I'm going to keep the mode in synch with any
>> changes in the language. 

Thanks Sergei for the explanation and Stig for the confirmation that
your vcl-mode.el should be considered as out-of-date.

> I indeed think the file should be renamed, and I don't think
> vl4-mode.el will be misleading in the long run.

I'll stay with vcl-mode.el: it's just a newer version of the same
package which simply doesn't support the old syntax any more (the fact
that it was rewritten from scratch can be seen as an "implementation
detail").


        Stefan

Re: [gmane.emacs.devel] Re: [ELPA] New package: vcl-mode

[Stig Sandbeck Mathisen]

Sergey Poznyakoff <gray@gnu.org.ua> writes:

> Stig's vcl-mode was written for VCL 2.0. It was last modified in
> November, 2012. Since then the language has changed quite
> considerably, especially with transition from v3.0 to v4.0.
>
> The proposed vcl-mode.el was written from scratch. It supports VCL
> 4.0, which is the version of the language used by the recent Varnish
> releases. In fact, I've been using it since 2015 in my work, before
> finally deciding to submit it.
>
> Technically. it differs from Stig's version in that it delegates
> indentation tasks to c-mode, instead of calculating indentation
> directly. The syntax table was designed to closely match the
> language. Finally, special parenthesis-matching function is provided,
> which takes into account the VCL-specific {" ... "} multi-line string
> delimiters.
>
>> The name conflict between the two packages could be a source of
>> problems if both packages keep on living their own life.
>
> Yes, indeed. This can be solved by naming my version vcl4-mode.el.
> However, this can become misleading in the long run, e.g. if/when VCL
> 5 appears, since I'm going to keep the mode in synch with any changes
> in the language.

As Sergey writes, my "vcl-mode.el" from
https://github.com/ssm/elisp/blob/master/vcl-mode.el is out of date with
regards to the current VCL specification in Varnish, and indeed also
several past ones.  I do not intend to spend much more time on it.

I recommend that you use the much more modern "vcl-mode.el" from
http://git.gnu.org.ua/cgit/vcl-mode.git/tree/vcl-mode.el

-- 
Regards,
Stig Sandbeck Mathisen