Distributed model for bundles (was: [TxMt] Bundle and language help)

[Oliver Hagmann]

On 06.08.2007, at 22:54, Andre Behrens wrote:

> I vote for promoting "get bundle" to a normal part of the application,
> a major and clearly marked feature, not an adjunct plugin.
>
> Getting bundles of functionality is not merely a "nice thing" in
> TextMate. It is the very essence of TextMate. The process of
> retrieving and managing bundles should be an absolute first class
> experience. I'd say my ideal would be something like Quicksilver's
> plugin system.
>
> Short of actually editing text, managing plugins is the most important
> thing I do with the app.
>
> I think *distribution* should have absolutely nothing to do with
> version control, under the assumption that whatever system is
> selected, it presumes the user will have it present on their system.
>
> Of course, this is all moot re: how developers manage code for their
> plugins. Having considered this situation at my own company, the
> benefits of distributed source control are transparently obvious to
> me.
>
> But that should be orthogonal to distribution to users. I really hate
> the whole "let's just do an svn checkout to get stuff" concept, and I
> understand perfectly how to do it.

I strongly second all of this. I can't say much about the bundle  
development/administration process itself, since I never did any  
contribution to that. -- But from a *user perspective*, getting  
additional (or updated) bundles should be as transparent and "non- 
technical" as possible. I understand that a lot of TextMate users are  
technically very savvy, but all the same it would be nice if adding  
bundles would be handled over some kind of GUI (be it GetBundle or  
something integrated in the bundle manager) which doesn't depend on  
the user installing additional software like svn or any other version  
control system. So I vote for a strong separation between how the  
adding of additional bundles and how the bundle development/ 
administration is handled.

Best, Oliver