vm team mailing list archive

[Tim Cross <theophilusx@xxxxxxxxx>]

Blueprint changed by Tim Cross:

Whiteboard changed:
  A number of changes may be necessary to VM source files to allow
  inclusion in ELPA. The code must be released under an open source
  license. Is this an issue? Need to verify status of the add-ons.
  
  Code needs to comply with emacs standards on header/footer sections. We
  are probably pretty close. Most changes would be fairly trivial i.e.
  ensuring right number of ; in comments etc.
  
  Need to verify autoload comments are all OK
  
  Need to contact the ELPA maintainers *before* starting any work to check
  on any requirements/restrictions. Have not done this as first needed to
  get feedback from dev team.
  
  Uday: Seems like a good idea.  If there will be an easy way for Emacs-
  users to download and install packages, we should use it.  License is a
  non-issue, we are under GPL.  Coding style will require some work, but
  not a big issue.  My main concern is whether ELPA's installation
  mechanism will be able to accommodate our "build".  There might be
  changes needed.
  
  Email sent   2010/08/15 to the ELPA maintainers asking for some
  information on what would be required in order to create a VM ELPA
  package. In particular, asked for information on using autoconf
  configure script, handling of non-elisp code., handling of documentation
  files etc.
+ 
+ Looking at the doc patch Uday sent to the list, there seem to be a
+ couple of restrictions for ELPA that may be a problem. Of particular
+ concern are
+ 
+   - Does not appear to support the use of autoconf or make
+   - Compilation of *.el files cannot depend on order
+   - Does not appear to be any support for installation of other code i.e. C code/support files
+   - No obvious support for user input in the build/install process
+ 
+ More analysi is required, but the initial impression is thaqt ELPA
+ packages need to support build and installation processes that are all
+ elisp driven. Would likely need elisp code that would search for add-on
+ features, such as bbdb or w3m. Still worth further investigation, but it
+ looks like it may be necessary to add an all elsip based build process.
+ A possible approach may be to have an elpa make target that would create
+ an elpa package directory containing all the necessary code and
+ structure for an elpa based package install.  Given the early stage of
+ development of ELPA, it is possible that the maintainers would be open
+ to feature enhancements/improvements, provided we could provide good
+ justification (and possibly code).

-- 
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