Re: Reconsider defaults for use-package-vc-prefer-newest

[Tony Zorman <tonyzorman@mailbox.org>]

On Sat, Sep 21 2024 14:44, Philip Kaludercic wrote:
> Tony Zorman <tonyzorman@mailbox.org> writes:
>
>>>> PROBLEM 1. MISMATCH WITH PACKAGE-VC
>>>>
>>>> Now use-package :vc is not in line with the behavior of the
>>>> package-vc-install command, which fetches the newest commit.
>>>>
>>>> All other package managers I know of also fetch the newest commit.
>>>
>>> The main reference is package.el, which by default uses GNU ELPA and
>>> NonGNU ELPA.  Both distribute explicitly released packages, as indicated
>>> by the version header.  To me this has a much greater weight than what
>>> third-party package managers and archives decide to do.
>>
>> I will say that I also find it surprising behaviour that, by default,
>>
>>     (package-vc-install "«URL»")
>>
>> and
>>
>>     (use-package blah
>>       :vc (:url "«URL»"))
>>
>> have different semantics.
>
> One idea I had we that we could require :vc to take a :rev argument.
> But if it really is the case that we haven't found the right solution,
> perhaps we should remove the keyword from the next release, or at least
> mark it as some kind of an experimental feature?

That seems a bit too extreme to me, and I think the feature is much too
useful for that. Defaulting to *something* when not being given an
explicit revision also seems sensible, seeing how use-package generally
tries to do "the right thing". Plus, just setting
use-package-vc-prefer-newest to t resolves this "tension" in a
satisfactory manner—at least to me.

-- 
Tony Zorman | https://tony-zorman.com