Re: syncing from Emacs to Gnus

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

>> Gnus depends on lots of files in Emacs.  These are just like the
>> others -- general purpose facilities (we moved them BECAUSE they are
>> general purpose) which Gnus happens to use.  They should NEVER have
>> been included in Gnus.

>     In many/most cases they were written specifically for Gnus, so I cannot
>     agree with the above.

> Perhaps a few of them seemed to be special-purpose for Gnus when first
> installed.  But some of them were clearly always general-purpose
> facilities.  Those should be installed in Emacs as ordinary parts of
> Emacs, after a suitable discussion here.  We should discuss the
> right design for them, just as we would if some other part of Emacs
> had been the motive for writing them.

As I said, many/most of those packages were written specifically for
Gnus.  I.e. if it weren't for Gnus they wouldn't exist.  The fact that
the author was careful to try and make it generic, expecting potential
uses in other packages, doesn't change anything to it.

If we force those packages to first be put into acceptable shape for
Gnus, then people may prefer to just make those packages Gnus-specific
(even artificially so, if needed), so they don't have to satisfy the
Emacs community but only the Gnus maintainers.

Over time, those packages may/will find uses in other packages and will
start to take a life or their own, and separate from Gnus, but we should
let this process take its time, rather than force it.


        Stefan