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Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide)
From: |
Stephen Berman |
Subject: |
Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide) |
Date: |
Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:36:35 +0200 |
User-agent: |
Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.3.50 (gnu/linux) |
On Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:20:18 -0400 Stefan Monnier <address@hidden> wrote:
>> I'd consider doing that if the Emacs maintainers decide not to accept
>> this package, but my hope is that they will accept it and then
>
> I don't see any problem with you switching to this new fancier
> todo-mode.el, with the only request that you try to preserve some
> compatibility with todo files made with the old mode.
Thank you for the vote of confidence. Regarding compatibility, as
explained in the last section of the user guide I posted, the way the
new and old todo file formats treat the item date header makes them
practically incompatible. However, I've provided a command which
converts a copy of an old-style todo file into new-style one and a copy
of an old-style `todo-file-done' file into a new-style todo archive
file. I've tested this with the default value of the date/time header
string used by the old version, and it should also work with custom
values that satisfy certain conditions, but this would need more testing
and it's not unlikely that some manual post-editing would be necessary.
I hope this is an acceptable approach. If so, then I have a number of
questions about how to proceed:
- The first thing to decide is where and under what name to install the
new version. Should I simply replace the old version? This would
essentially force users of the old version to convert to and learn to
use the new version. In principle, that should not be a problem, but
since I'm the only one who's used the new version so far, there are
certain to be use cases and configurations I didn't test well enough
or even think of at all, so there could well be a period of
instability for these users.
- Alternatively, I could install the new version alongside the old
version. In fact, the code I posted is ready for this, since the file
is called todos.el and it uses the prefix "todos-", so it can be
loaded without interfering with the old version. This would allow
people to test the new version while still being able to use the old
version. The disadvantage of this is inertia: since people wouldn't
have to use the new version, it may get less testing.
- A third alternative is to install the new version as posted with the
new name and prefix in place of the old version and move that to
lisp/obsolete/, so people could still use it but would have more
incentive to use the new version.
- Although I eliminated, changed or reimplemented almost all the code in
the old version, there are bits here and there that I've retained, as
well as the basic concepts and UI of handling todo lists. So should
the original author, Oliver Seidel, still be listed as an author, or
is it sufficient to acknowledge him in the commentary (as I do in the
code I posted)?
- If Glenn Morris approves, can I install the patch I included for
diary-lib.el? Without this, if a todo file is included in the Emacs
diary, then when a todo item appears as an entry in the Fancy Diary
display and you click on it, you may not jump to the right item in the
todo file. It's not a showstopper, but should be supported for proper
integration with the diary. But maybe there's a better way of getting
the right behavior than this patch. (BTW, I think this issue already
exists for the current version of todo-mode.el.)
- The code makes use of a powerset function, which Emacs doesn't have.
I tried but couldn't come up with my own algorithm but found a
recursive Common Lisp implementation and an iterative one in C on a
website whose content is licensed under the GFDL. I reimplemented the
latter in Elisp, so at least the code is not literally copied. Is
this a cause for concern with respect to copyright assignment?
- I've tried to follow the Emacs coding conventions and used checkdoc,
but one of the things I'm uncertain about is the new "<prefix>--"
convention. Since this is not a general-purpose library, basically
every function and variable in it is not meant for use by other
packages. On the other hand, some clearly internal functions, such as
the powerset function, could be used by other packages, but more
likely they would be redefined using the package prefix. So for the
time being I haven't applied this convention but I'd be happy to do so
in specific cases, or if the guidelines for using it can be spelled
out more precisely.
- I also have a question about documentation. The user guide I posted
is certainly too long and detailed for the commentary section of the
source code, and I guess also for the Emacs manual. Should I try to
destill it down to a reasonable manual entry, added to the diary
chapter? If so, I'd be grateful for suggestions about what to omit or
how to make it otherwise suitable. Alternatively, if it is deemed
worthwhile including all the information, it could be added as
separate manual.
Steve Berman
- New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Stephen Berman, 2013/06/09
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Bastien, 2013/06/10
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Stephen Berman, 2013/06/10
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Óscar Fuentes, 2013/06/10
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Stephen Berman, 2013/06/10
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Stefan Monnier, 2013/06/10
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide),
Stephen Berman <=
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Stefan Monnier, 2013/06/11
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Stephen Berman, 2013/06/12
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Stefan Monnier, 2013/06/12
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Stephen Berman, 2013/06/13
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Glenn Morris, 2013/06/12
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Stefan Monnier, 2013/06/12
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Stephen Berman, 2013/06/12
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Stefan Monnier, 2013/06/12
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Stephen Berman, 2013/06/13
- Re: New version of todo-mode.el (announcement + user guide), Stefan Monnier, 2013/06/13