Re: Bundling GNU ELPA packages

[Tassilo Horn <tsdh@gnu.org>]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> The only downside I can see is that users upgrading from Emacs 24 to
>> 25 might get startup errors because formerly built-in packages aren't
>> anymore.  But that can be documented easily:
>> 
>>   If you used the built-in org-mode version in Emacs < 25, do
>> 
>>     1. emacs -Q
>>     2. M-x package-install RET org RET
>>     3. Now you can restart emacs without -Q
>
> There are only disadvantages here.  You add conditions that, if they
> are not satisfied, will interfere with the upgrade.  It's a nuisance
> for no good reason.

Ok, I can understand bundling org and gnus because they've previously
been built-in.  But when we now start bundling even more packages, those
are the next that can never ever be removed for that very same reason.
If their maintainers are hit by a truck, then you and the other Emacs
devs will have to take over.  Ditto if such a package is superseeded by
some better alternative.

Just saying: if a package is distributed with emacs, that's a kind of
guarantee that it'll still be there in the next decades to come.

Bye,
Tassilo