Re: [TCLCORE] "In the core"

[Brian G. <bri...@ea...>]

> On Oct 30, 2024, at 18:47, Steve Landers <st...@di...> wrote:
> 
> Folks,
> 
> Over the years we often hear people ask for something to be “in the core” and it’s happening again recently as we start thinking about what comes after Tcl 9.0.   But what does “in the core” mean?  I’m interested in hearing people’s opinions.
> 
> Does it mean “I want this package to be tightly controlled via TIPs” like Tcl itself?
> 
> Does it mean “I want this package to always be available when Tcl is installed?"
> 
> Does it mean “I want have confidence that this package can be built and installed in a particular Tcl version?"
> 
> Does it mean all of the above or something else?
> 
> Here’s my take ...
> 
> Some packages are foundational and need to be carefully managed and always available with a Tcl release: e.g. http (perhaps), tls, thread, perhaps others. Does that mean they need to be under TIP control?  Probably not albeit we should try not to break the compatibility of packages like http and tls.  But what I would greatly appreciate is having a set of packages that I could rely upon being present in any Tcl install (unless explicitly omitted - such as on memory constrained devices).
> 
> We already have a mechanism for this in the tcl/pkgs directory. I would be satisfied to see more packages being included in that and perhaps a “batteries included” distribution added to the Tcl distribution files.  And since we are in parallel talking about decoupling Tk from Tcl we could add Tk to tcl/pkgs too.  I realise this might cause heartburn for distro maintainers so their input will be vital. And how would we differentiate Tcl pkgs from Tk pkgs if Tk itself was a pkg (maybe we don’t need to).  But directionally I am comfortable with the notion that “in the core” means “in tcl/pkgs” except for features that can’t be distributed as a package.
> 
> So what are your thoughts?   

As a (former) consumer of Tcl, delivering a commercial product, my take on "in the core" means a single download and single build step.
And, to address corporate due diligence, the download is subject to copyright vetting and security analysis.

The number of open-source downloads that have to go through these steps can be overwhelming, hence the desire to bundle stuff together whenever possible.

-Brian

> 
> -- Steve
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