Re: Fetching or installing package dev source from VCS: manual style

[Stefan Monnier]

>   > @findex package-vc-install
>   >   One way to do this is to use @code{package-vc-install}, to fetch the
>   > source code for a package directly from source.
>
> I contend that `package-dev-source' or `package-upstream-source'
> is a better name than `package-vc-install'.
>
> They are better because they describe the crucial difference for which
> you would use that command: to get the development source rather than
> the current release source.  It is true that the development source
> will usually come from a VCS, but that's an secondary detail, not the
> crucial point.

I don't have a strong opinion either way, but I'll note that the purpose
of this new feature is to fetch&install the code from a VCS.  It's not
to fetch the "development" code instead of the "release" code (that's
already served by the difference between GNU ELPA and GNU-devel ELPA).

E.g. so you can have local changes while still tracking upstream
updates.  There are some technical hurdles that make it harder for
`package-vc-install` to track upstream "releases" rather than upstream
"development" (at least in the general case: in a case like Org where
releases come from a separate branch it can be pretty easy), but it's
definitely doable and I actually hope we'll be able to add such
a feature at some point.


        Stefan