Re: synchronizing with Emacs, take two

[Katsumi Yamaoka <yamaoka@jpl.org>]

Ted Zlatanov wrote:
[...]
> Yamaoka-san, how do you synchronize Gnus and Emacs?  Do you use
> a script or do it manually?

I use a sh script which does:

1. Rearrange the files of Emacs into the directory structure that
   is the same as Gnus.  For instance, gather lisp/mail/binhex.el,
   lisp/textmodes/dns-mode.el, etc. to lisp/; gather doc/misc/*.texi,
   etc/refcards/gnus-refcard.tex, etc. to texi/, etc.

2. Apply the offset patch file to the gathered Emacs files.  It
   changes gnus-version-number, the default values of some user
   options (mainly in message.el), etc.

3. diff -aruN Gnus/ EmacsGnus/

Normally it reports there's no difference.  When it alerts, I check
if new comers work with Emacs 21~24, XEmacs 21.4/5, and SXEmacs 22.1.
And modify changes manually if needed, apply changes from one to
another manually, then commit them to Gnus, Emacs, or both.  I have
no idea for a way to make those manual works automated.

> I'd like to help with the process (and automate it, as previously
> discussed) while adding these two features:

> - for a single change, make the commit message the same as the change's
>   commit message (with a prefix to indicate it's a synch)

To make it worthwhile, we will need to improve commit messages so
as to say what they are for briefly in a single line.  Easier said
than done, though.  Anyway we should not use the ones such as the
following, that's just a copy of ChangeLog:

commit 08dd9f431367713667b1124e633c2ff97697a390
Author: Katsumi Yamaoka <yamaoka@jpl.org>
Date:   Thu Jun 10 05:32:19 2010 +0000

    (gnus-mime-buttonized-part-id): New internal variable.
    (gnus-article-edit-part): Bind it to make last part that is substituted
     or deleted visible.
    (gnus-mime-display-single): Buttonize part of which id equals to
     gnus-mime-buttonized-part-id.

> - close bugs when they are mentioned in the commit message

> I'd like this to be as automatic as possible, but never do a push
> automatically.  So it can't happen on every commit.

BTW, is `No Gnus' really necessary?  Though I've been maintaining
it so as to work with various version of Emacsen, I don't know
whether there are really a lot of people who use it.  People who
want the most recent Gnus can upgrade Emacs (if needed, even to
use the Emacs head is not so troublesome).  The only point may be
that the Gnus XEmacs package is very old (it is now Gnus 5.10.8).