Re: Installing binaries with package.el

[Stefan Monnier]

> If Debian will keep track of package dependencies, and we are not so
> worried about other platforms (expecting them to match Debian's
> approach), and we're satisfied that their approach resolves the issues
> I've brought up (OS package dependencies and dynload module/general
> binary distribution), then it's a lot less important to have
> dependencies on OS packages in ELPA packages or to provide any binaries
> (the two ELPA features I've proposed so far).

You mean "if we assume that dynload modules will be installed via apt/yum
rather than via package.el"?

Indeed, I expect that this will end up being fairly common (since even
if you already have a C compiler installed, it's likely you'll need to
have to install some libfoo-dev package to get the module to compile).

> If we agree on that, then ELPA packages of dynload modules only have to
> support local compilation for developers.

But I think that the case of non-developers installing via package.el
should be considered important as well.  We probably won't be able to
provide as smooth a solution for them as `apt-get` or `yum`, but they
deserve some efforts on our part.


        Stefan