Re: A proposal for a friendlier Emacs

[Richard Stallman]

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

  > As your config evolves, the next question everyone will be asking
  > themselves is "custom.el or init file?"

It is possible to use both -- so why do people believe they have
to choose one or the other?

  > Here is what I observed: when I start adding a new class of use-cases
  > (example: email), I start out with a single package, that does most of
  > what I want/need.

We use multiple definitions of "package" in connection with Emacs.
Would you please say what definition you're using here?

For instance, does "package" include Rmail?

  > Within this config file, I keep the setting for each package in a
  > different section (separated by comments).

Could Configure do this automatically?  Would that require
additional data about relationships between various things?

  > Again, in my ideal world, each package would be classified into exactly
  > one main category (email, content completion, etc.). 

In principle, I think this is a good idea.  However, think it should
NOT be limited to ELPA packages.

Also, I have a feeling that users won't all agree how to classify
packages.  I expect there will be overlapping categories that make sense.
So I think we need to make provision for having one package
that fits into multiple categories.  Perhaps by asking the user
which category to think of this package in.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)