Mail Archives: geda-user/2014/05/19/19:55:44
On Wednesday 07 May 2014, Kai-Martin Knaak wrote:
> If you do, please do not do it as a plug-in. Do it as a
> generic feature in the main binary. Plug-ins tend to break
> when the main source base of pcb moves on. Also, they are an
> obstacle to using different versions of pcb in parallel.
> This in turn discourages testing and early adoption.
If that is true, you are doing something wrong, or maybe the pcb
program is doing something wrong.
In Gnucap, whether something is supplied as a plugin or "as a
generic feature in the main binary", it is coded exactly the
same. The only difference is whether it is supplied with the
main binary or not, and that decision is usually(**) based on
its quality and usefulness. Supplying as a plugin lets you add
it at any time without reinstalling, without waiting. Then when
it is proven to be good and of general interest it is added to
the main branch.
Usually "tend to break when the main source branch moves on"
means poor quality code and the plugin developer has abandoned
it. If it were included in the main branch, somebody else would
need to maintain it, and may not want to if the quality is poor.
So do it as a plugin, beat the bugs out, and when it is ready
ask for it to be included with the main binary.
(**) .. In some cases it is based on copyright, licensing, or
third-party libraries.
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