Subject: bug#71157: 30.0.50; Unbundle Idlwave from Emacs?

From: Po Lu <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 24 May 2024 14:36:42 +0800

Stefan Monnier <[email-masked]> writes:

> Package: Emacs
> Version: 30.0.50
>
>
> Idlwave has been bundled with Emacs "forever" but that code has been
> unmaintained for many years.  There was another version over on Github.
> The two have now been consolidated and made available via GNU ELPA
> (http://elpa.gnu.org/packages/idlwave.html).
>
> Maybe we could move it to `lisp/obsolete` for Emacs-30?

Why not merge the new version into Emacs 30 instead?  There is 450 GB of
free storage in my computer just waiting to be occupied, while moving
one package into lisp/obsolete will save but a few dozen bytes in
loaddefs.el.

> AFAICT this is a package with a very small audience, so I suggest we
> unbundle it from Emacs, leaving it up to users to install it from GNU
> ELPA instead.

That way lies madness.  A solid three quarters of our features target
very small or specialized audiences, and I trust no one is proposing to
delete, say, lisp/language/tibetan.el or lisp/international/ogonek.el?

I've stated this before and I will again.  Raw popularity is not a
measure of whether a package deserves a place in core, and the
reconciliation of its two divergent versions into a single package under
our auspices actually eliminates one of the more compelling reasons to
divest Emacs of this specific package that emerged last it was
considered.