ELPA packages and Org mode integration (was: [ELPA] New package: jami-bot and org-jami-bot)

[Ihor Radchenko]

Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

> Emacs already shows the effects of many years of the bad practice of
> integrating various new features specifically with Org, not with Emacs
> generally.  As a result, they are available only to those who use Org
> mode.  There are no efforts to generalize these features so they are
> not limited to Org.
>
> We must therefore insist that every new feature XYZ which CAN be
> modularly separate from Org, be implemented as modularly separate from
> Org.  People who want to use XYZ and Org together should be able to do
> so -- but people who want to use the one without the other should also
> be able to do so.
>
> In other words, if XYZ doesn't inherently _have_ to be limited to Org,
> it must not be limited to Org.
>
> Please join me in insisting on this modularity.

I have no issue with a push towards better support of Emacs-wide
facilities. However, I strongly oppose the idea to reject ELPA
submissions for packages that utilize the existing Org mode interfaces.

Rejecting ELPA is not a solution - if implementing non-Org interface is
hard, this will not encourage package authors to do the work, but
instead push them towards other package repositories like MELPA.
A side effect of more MELPA submissions will be fewer authors with
copyright assignment - this is a co-lateral damage.

> In other words, if XYZ doesn't inherently _have_ to be limited to Org,
> it must not be limited to Org.

This statement only makes sense for the Org mode features that should
better be a part of Emacs proper. Rather than prohibiting ELPA packages
from using these features, please encourage contributors to work towards
extracting them into Emacs code. This will be more constructive.

Do not place barriers, encourage improvements.

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>