Re: PGTK-related misconceptions

[Sean Whitton]

Hello,

On Mon 18 Apr 2022 at 01:57PM +08, Po Lu wrote:

> Sean Whitton <spwhitton@spwhitton.name> writes:
>
>> It recommends it /for/ using alternative window systems, not /only for/
>> using alternative window systems, so far as I can tell.  For example
>>
>>     With the PGTK build, you will be able to switch between running
>>     Emacs on X, Wayland and Broadway using the 'GDK_BACKEND' environment
>>     variable.
>>
>> really makes it sound like it's find to use it if you're using only X.
>
> I don't see a difference between "for" and "only for" in this case,
> because above the section talking about PGTK (and also in the details
> below) is a large amount of commentary discussing the regular X build.

Well, I can only reiterate that on my reading the file does not clearly
express the idea that PGTK should be avoided if you don't absolutely
require it.  And I'm someone relatively familiar with PGTK.  I can
easily imagine us seeing distros replacing the package emacs-gtk with
emacs-pgtk on the assumption that it is a straight upgrade.  It will be
hard to undo that.

You mentioned that various blog posts give people the wrong idea.  We
could decide to make the point extra clearly in INSTALL for the sake of
counteracting a misconception that is continuing to spread, and is
showing no signs of stopping.

-- 
Sean Whitton