Re: Rewrite of zsh-newuser-install (Mikael's subthread)

[Bart Schaefer <schaefer@brasslantern.com>]

On Sat, Apr 10, 2021 at 1:47 PM dana <dana@dana.is> wrote:
>
> the proposed changes have gone beyond the scope i'd initially envisioned.

Ditto.

> the proposed configuration is too complex to be of much help with
> the stated goal of demonstrating how new users can modify their own config.

This is also my feeling.

> That ties in with another concern i have, which is that once a user installs
> this configuration, it's basically untouchable to us. We can't really patch it
> after the fact if there's a problem with it.

Not if the user is encouraged to edit it in place, anyway.

> Those two observations lead me to feel that, if we do go forward with this,
> maybe implementing it with prompt styles and auto-loaded functions would be
> the way to go after all.

This is venturing into the territory of "should zsh ship with a
preferred module management system"?  Because we're demonstrating a
use case for modules, here, which we haven't previously had any need
for.  If everything we want CAN be done with autoloaded functions, of
course, that's as "modular" as we need to get.

> I feel silly for bringing up fundamental 'architecture' questions so late in
> the game

It wasn't clear, early on, that the scope of the changes would require
architecting.