Re: New package suggestions (haskell, sml, xslide)
|--==> "CGW" == Charles G Waldman <Charles> writes:
CGW> I disagree about the packaging - while I would like to see support for
CGW> haskell, I think this should be added to the prog-modes package.
But it doesn't fit in with the way the package system was designed.
There are 2 different types of packages: 'single-file' and 'regular'.
The 'single-file' packages are supposed to be collections of related
but independent libraries. In theory, a user should be able to delete
a file from a 'single-file' package without shooting himself in the
foot.
The 'regular' packages are those where the files have some sort of
dependency on other files in the package. If a user was to delete one
of them, chances are that they will run into trouble.
I know that there are cases in the packages where this convention has
not been adhered to, but maybe that was through lack of
knowledge/diligence rather than by design.
The prog-modes package is a 'single-file' package.
CGW> Creating more packages just adds confusion, IMO. Prog-modes becomes
CGW> "support for various programming languages, except for <X> and
<Y> and
CGW> <Z> which have their own packages"
In reality, prog-modes is a collection of various lisp files that all
have a similar theme (in this case, programming languages) but those
files are not dependent upon one another.
CGW> Furthermore, if a language is not supported in prog-modes it
CGW> would be reasonable to assume that XEmacs does not have a mode
CGW> to support that language.
You wouldn't have to go too far down the list of packages before you
realised that this just wasn't the case (ada, c-support, cc-mode).
--
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