From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Nic Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: a practical reason why emacs shouldn't have dynamic loadables Date: 04 Aug 2003 10:07:03 +0100 Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <87smohyeo8.fsf@tapsellferrier.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1060012246 2869 80.91.224.253 (4 Aug 2003 15:50:46 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2003 15:50:46 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Mon Aug 04 17:51:03 2003 Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 19jhbz-0001Za-00 for ; Mon, 04 Aug 2003 17:51:03 +0200 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 19jhg7-0006QO-00 for ; Mon, 04 Aug 2003 17:55:20 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.20) id 19jgsk-00056f-Oy for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Mon, 04 Aug 2003 11:04:18 -0400 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.20) id 19jfJu-0005X7-QI for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 04 Aug 2003 09:24:14 -0400 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.20) id 19jbKZ-0008Mr-Bd for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 04 Aug 2003 05:09:10 -0400 Original-Received: from [217.34.135.17] (helo=tf1.tapsellferrier.co.uk) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.20) id 19jbKY-0008M2-DY for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 04 Aug 2003 05:08:38 -0400 Original-Received: from [194.74.202.254] (helo=roo) by tf1.tapsellferrier.co.uk with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 19jbKM-0007Qz-00; Mon, 04 Aug 2003 10:08:26 +0100 Original-To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-Lines: 31 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2 Precedence: list List-Id: Emacs development discussions. List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:15802 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:15802 I've been thinking about this. While the licence issue is obviously important it also seems that dynamic loading could make things more complicated for the non-technical user. Ok. Emacs prime audience is very technical people. But it *is* used by non-technical and by the "less-technical". The latter category includes junior programmers and people just starting out on the journey to emacs nirvana. Whenever dynamic loading gets added to anything complexity is introduced. It can't be helped, it's part and parcel of increased flexibility. The most common problem is a missing or out of date foreign component when the native component is available. For example, when using java one can have a java library that depends on some unix shared lib, but have the wrong version of the shared lib: cue all sorts of problems. Such things can be resolved, but only by having a robust package system that can express dependancies properly. And even then things can get out of sync. So having this would make life more precarious for non-technical users. I'm not saying Emacs would break because users are non-technical, meerly that the risk of emacs breaking (or something inside emacs that a user relied upon) is increased. -- Nic Ferrier http://www.tapsellferrier.co.uk