Use the Source Luke

[Ben Finney]

rusi <rustompmody at gmail.com> writes:

> On Jan 29, 4:10 am, Ben Finney <ben+pyt... at benfinney.id.au> wrote:
> > I have a quibble with the framing:
> >
> > > The rest of the blame lies with installers. They all treat
> > > human-readable scripts like they were binaries and tuck the code
> > > away in a dark corner.
>
> Consider this example:
> The emacs source if compiled from source will give you help for each
> lisp or even builtin (C) function out of the box from inside emacs.
> However if you get the emacs package from debian/ubuntu you will get
> neither unless you install el files -- which is fine -- just install
> the el package. […]

That's an example of the point I made in what followed in my message you
quoted. The description can be interpreted as accurate, but it's framed
poorly.

> Isn't this an instance of the problem that Raymond is talking of?

The “problem”, which I don't consider to be a problem per se, is one of
OS-wide policy, not “installers”. The policy is a matter of tradeoffs
across the system, and isn't “tucking the code away in a dark corner”.

> [Personal note:  Ive been a python user and teacher for nearly 10
> years and would eagerly welcome more easy code-open-ness]

Agreed.

-- 
 \     “When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no |
  `\     test in reality, this [the Auschwitz crematorium] is how they |
_o__)             behave.” —Jacob Bronowski, _The Ascent of Man_, 1973 |
Ben Finney