Re: Emacs addon packages--compile upon install?

[Jim Pick <jim@jimpick.com>]

pfaffben@pilot.msu.edu (Ben Pfaff) writes:

> This morning I uploaded a version of w3-el that doesn't compile upon
> installation--instead, there are separate precompiled packages for
> Emacs 19 and Emacs 20, plus a shared documentation package.  I see
> this as a better way to go than forcing the end-user to have to sit
> through a long compile (it can take 15-30 minutes for w3-el to compile
> on an older machine).
> 
> I am trying to remember the rationale we had for making Emacs' addon
> packages compile when they install themselves, and I can't remember
> it.  Perhaps you can remind me.
> 
> Unless there's a really good reason, I think it might be better
> strategy to more towards something closer to the w3-el model, i.e.,
> one binary package for each Emacs version: for instance, bbdb-e19,
> bbdb-e20, bbdb-x19, bbdb-x20.  There could be a bbdb-common or
> bbdb-doc for shared files.
> 
> Comments?

I agree that waiting for the large add-on packages to compile during
installation is very aggravating.  At the same time, it puts a lot of
load on the maintainers to build so many byte-compiled versions.

How about a hybrid approach?

ie. for bbdb

   bbdb-el      - source package
   bbdb-auto    - compiles for each emacs when installed
   bbdb-common  - common files
   bbdb-doc	- documentation

   (optionally)

   bbdb-e19	- for emacs 19
   bbdb-e20	- for emacs 20
   bbdb-x19	- for xemacs 19
   bbdb-x20	- for xemacs 20

What would be really nice is if the pre-byte-compiled versions could
be built separately from the main source.  That way, they could be
prepared by somebody other than the primary maintainer (using an
automated package building script, similar to the "make-kpkg"
approach).

Small emacs add-on packages wouldn't need the pre-byte-compiled
packages.  But it would be very nice for larger packages, such as
bbdb, gnus, w3, etc.

Cheers,

 - Jim