RE: pdumping "into" the executable

[dancol]

>> > I thought we had this argument back when we were talking about
>> > modules. I think it's unacceptable to require a C compiler and the
>> > presence of Emacs unlinked objects for the proper operation of an
>> > end-user feature.
>>
>> Although using a dumped Emacs is an end-user feature, dumping and
>> redumping are not. Dumping and/or redumping are techniques used to build
>> Emacs, and in practice they should be part of a software build system;
>> for such a thing it's reasonable to assume a C compiler.
>>
>> We already assume a C compiler (or equivalent) when building modules; we
>> don't assume a C compiler only when people are using the modules.
>> Dumping is similar.
>
> This probably doesn't help, but I remember dumping Emacs with my
> Lisp customizations back in the 80s, as an end user, to get quick
> start-up.  I didn't build Emacs myself, and I had no C compiler
> and didn't need one.  No, I don't recall more than that, except
> that this was with GNU Emacs (probably version 18?) on Unix.
> I don't recall how I (and others) did it.
>
> So if possible, I think it would be good for end users (with no C
> compiler) to be able to take advantage of this new, portable dumper.

That is exactly the use case that we'll be able to support again. IMHO, it
should be automatic, although I don't know exactly what the startup-file
dependency tracking arrangement is going to look like.