Re: New package system design draft
>>>> "Jan" == Jan Vroonhof
<vroonhof(a)math.ethz.ch> writes:
Jan> sperber(a)informatik.uni-tuebingen.de (Michael Sperber [Mr. Preprocessor]) writes:
> - a name (a symbol)
> - a description
> - a version (a string "<major>.<minor>")
Jan> Are <major> and <minor> supposed to be numbers?
Yes.
> - a list of package specifications (see below) which must be
satisfied
> for the package to be able to compile
> - a list of package specifications (see below) which must be satisfied
> for the package to run
Jan> I would love to see (for the purposes of the install tool) the debian
Jan> dpkg-style weaker dependencies. Also I would dearly love a list of
Jan> features provided (or at least major and minor modes).
Could you elaborate? I know nothing about dpkg.
> (use-package <package-specification>)
>
> This indicates a preference for a package matching the specification
> to XEmacs. This means that, in the future, no other packages with the
> same name may be used in the running XEmacs. It also has the
> side-effect of making the package's autoloads available.
Jan> When exactly are the packages autoloads read?
Upon `use-package.'
Jan> What happens to packages
Jan> that are never '(use-package ..)'ed?
Nothing happens to them, nothing happens with them.
Jan> Or more specifically: How do the major/minor modes, menu entries
Jan> and user commands implemented by packages get advertised?
Via `use-package.' There's no way around that if you want
multiple-version coexistence.
> Nothing related to packages shows up in the relevant ...-path
and
> ...-directory-list variables. (I.e., package lisp subdirectories do
> not end up in `load-path.) However, the relevant functions which used
> to search in them still go through the package directories as a last
> resort.
Jan> Thus 'load-path''s standard value is "nil"?
Absolutely. To be more precise, though, that's a different overhaul
which ties in with this one.
The whole concept of a `load-path' is fundamentally incompatible with
a package system that manages metainformation. You want it only as a
last resort for backwards compatibility.
--
Cheers =8-} Chipsy
Friede, Völkerverständigung und überhaupt blabla