[racket-dev] Planet 2 Beta Release

At Sun, 9 Dec 2012 08:14:28 -0500, Sam Tobin-Hochstadt wrote:
> On Sat, Dec 8, 2012 at 11:54 PM, Jay McCarthy <jay.mccarthy at gmail.com> wrote:
> > My idea of "raco pkg migrate" is just to get a list of the packages that you
> > have installed and re-install them. 

Yes, that's what I had in mind.

(It may make sense to add an argument to `raco pkg list' to pick a
version or to specify "the most recent previous version", which could
be used by both `raco pkg migrate' and a graphical variant.)


> Second, I think an upgradeable installation, replacing the `bin` and
> `collects` directories, so that migration of packages isn't needed
> would work better -- that's more like how those of us who use git
> work, and I think we're mostly happy with that.

I think this works for us only because we're experts and we know how to
patch up the problems. I would never recommend working with a git
checkout to a student or new user of Racket. I would never recommend
installing a new version on top of an existing version (while I think
that installing two different versions to different directories should
just work).

> But even with `migrate`, I think the behavior *needs* to be be 'copy
> the files, call `setup`'.

When was the last time you patched part of your Linux installation and
expected the patch to be in place after an upgrade? I know there are
people who do that, but I don't think those people use the most popular
and "friendly" distributions, which try to keep installation and
maintenance simple.


The default has to be the thing that just works.

The thing that is best for experienced developers can be one step away
from the default --- since experienced developers are, by definition,
people who can deal with taking a step away from the default.