Re: The fate of ditaa.jar (9.4.5.)

[Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide]

Arthur Miller <arthur.miller@live.com> writes:

> I don't think that would be the case. Java is considered unsafe software
> so I wouldn't rely on older versions being pre-installed and avialable 
> everywhere.

Java is not considered unsafe software — not any more than any
interpreted language. What’s unsafe are Java applets, but those are not
what ditaa uses.

>> I would bundle the old version to keep old documents working (I do not
>> want org-mode to be volatile software[1] that breaks existing documents
>> with an update), but notify the user that a new version exists.
>
> Since you already have Java and ditaa installed on your computer, your
> older documents won't get broken. 

I have Java, but not ditaa, because Java is packaged in my distribution
and ditaa is not. My build pipelines use ditaa as shipped with org-mode.

Different from plantuml, there is no ditaa-runner to install as
application.

So unbundling ditaa breaks my documents when updating org-mode. The same
for everyone else who used a standard ditaa-setup with org-mode.

> By the way, how difficult is to download one file from the internet
> (ditaa.jar) if you are an user?

That’s not the point. The point is that every single user with a ditaa
block has to do it.

Ask the other way round: What is the benefit of removing ditaa from org?
If you want to force most current org-ditaa users to unbreak their setup
after update, there should be a significant tangible benefit.

Best wishes,
Arne
-- 
Unpolitisch sein
heißt politisch sein
ohne es zu merken

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