[asdf-install-devel] Patches, Darcs, 'n' stuff

[Dan Muller]

"Attila Lendvai attila.lendvai-at-gmail.com |asdf-install-devel/Both|" <...> writes:

>> * Make ASDF-INSTALL able to understand the concept of
>>   "updating". Apply it to itself. Then it will be ready to try
>>   updating ASDF, or any other library for that matter.
>>
>> * Make ASDF-INSTALL itself even easier to install. Ideally a
>>   single-file download, like ASDF!
>>
>> * At that point, consider the benefits of combining the projects. (But
>>   note that some people will never really want that integration,
>>   because there *are* alternatives to ASDF-INSTALL that make more
>>   sense in some environments.)
>
> it's also a bootstrapping issue: it's about bootstrapping a new lisp
> environment where the functionality of both asdf and asdf-install are
> vital at the same time. looking at it from this POV it's better to
> have it in a single lib/project that has a single install howto.
>
> just some 0.02,

Yup, I'm not ignoring the bootstrapping issue. My point is that most
of the integration can occur without combining the packages. (At least
I think so; nobody has talked about exactly what kind of integration
they're looking for yet.) Once ASDF-INSTALL is as easy as it can be to
use on Windows, and the integration is proven to work well, combining
them into a single downloadable should be trivially easily. As long as
no filenames collide, it could be as simple as putting them all in one
directory, and writing that HOWTO. Until you get to that point, there
seems (to me) little advantage to putting them together, and the
disadvantage of encouraging incidental and unnecessary coupling
between their implementations. (Although others would focus more on
opportunities for synergy between the implementations. Weighing the
pros and cons is a judgement call.)

BTW, part of the solution is also simplifying how ASDF works on
Windows. But again I think that can be done, at least initially, from
outside ASDF. Prove solutions first, then integrate them if it makes
sense to.

-- 
Dan Muller