[Vm-dev] DSAPlugin

[David T. Lewis]

On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 03:25:52PM +0100, stephane ducasse wrote:
> 
> david
> 
> Did you use metacello to manage your packages?
> Because small packages can be really a problem if we do not have a way to manage them as a group.
> I wrote the metacello chapter just for that: to help people managing their packages. 
> 
> Stef

Hi Stef,

Yes, and Metacello solves the problem very well from the point of
view of distributing correct configurations and managing the necessary
variations in packaging. For example, it is perfect for specifying
a configuration of CommandShell that is appropriate for Pharo
(no MVC required) versus a configuration that is appropriate for
Squeak, and it provides a nice way to specify a configuration that
is known to work with some specific version of an image.

I mentioned my experience with OSProcess from the point of view of
the developer and maintainer of the package. I broke the package
into more pieces than necessary, and as a result I find myself needing
to update several packages when releasing a change that would be better
managed as a single update to one package. This makes it harder for me
to keep track of changes why trying to troubleshoot a problem, and
the repository itself now contains far too many files.

So in general I prefer to see separate repositories and smaller, more
modular packaging. But in practice sometimes there are tradeoffs ;)

Dave