StateVar (Was: How to contact OpenGL package maintainer (where is Sven?))

[Ian Lynagh]

On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 04:05:23PM +0100, Stephen Tetley wrote:
> There is a good social reason not to add it to Base - Base is already
> a significant maintenance effort for the people who actually work on
> it (notably Ian Lynagh and Ross Paterson).
> 
> Maybe there is a case for a "Bigger Base" as part of the Platform instead?

Misc packages are a pain, e.g.:

It's unclear what package the functionality you want is in.

Stability, performance, and even design, are unlikely to be uniform
throughout the package.

Any time any part is changed, the version number needs to be bumped,
which means .cabal updates for everyone who uses any part.

The extensions the package requires are the union of the extensions the
parts require, making otherwise-portable code unportable. Likewise
unnecessary dependencies (on C or Haskell libraries) can be dragged in,
when they aren't related to the bit of the package you want.


In fact, IMO, the platform should /be/ the "bigger base".


Thanks
Ian