GNU bug report logs - #77075
[PATCH] Prepare package.el to be published on GNU ELPA

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From: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>
To: Stefan Kangas <stefankangas <at> gmail.com>
Cc: Daniel Mendler <mail <at> daniel-mendler.de>, Philip Kaludercic <philipk <at> posteo.net>, 77075 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#77075: [PATCH] Prepare package.el to be published on GNU ELPA, [PATCH] Prepare package.el to be published on GNU ELPA
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2025 20:02:42 -0400

>> I'm worried that our standard practice is being polluted by other
>> systems where it's routine to force all users to constantly upgrade
>> everything (which I believe ultimately erodes the freedoms offered by
>> Free Software), so I think it's important that the packages over which
>> we have some control preserve the tradition of being careful to keep
>> dependencies no stricter than necessary.
>
> Could you perhaps briefly explain the philosophical argument?

Not sure what you mean by that, but if you want me to explain why
I think it erodes Free Software: in systems like Rust/Go/JS where
dependencies tend to be very tight, it becomes a lot more difficult to
maintain local changes to a piece of code, because pretty quickly none
of the rest of the "world" will work with the version of the package FOO
you modified, so either you stick to an old snapshot of all the packages
(i.e. "stuck in time") or you have to port your change to a newer
version of FOO (i.e. live on the bleeding edge).

If you push the precise-version-dependency argument to its logical
conclusion, packages should even refuse to work (unless you modify them,
that is) with your locally modified version of FOO because, well, they
haven't been tested against your version of the package, have they?
Their coders wouldn't want to receive bug reports about people using
their package with your modified FOO.


        Stefan

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