[PROPOSAL] include nqp-rx PIR files in Parrot core distribution

[Geoffrey Broadwell]

On Sat, 2009-10-31 at 01:04 -0500, Patrick R. Michaud wrote:
> So, my proposal would be to periodically grab copies
> of the generated .pir files from the nqp-rx repo into a 
> compilers/nqp-rx/ directory in Parrot, and add commands to
> Parrot's build subsystem to compile the .pirs to .pbcs and
> install them in the appropriate directories.  (nqp.pbc would
> likely be installed as nqp-rx.pbc for a time, to avoid conflicts
> with the existing nqp.pbc.)

+1.  This is exactly what I've been asking for, so that I can move
Plumage to the newer, better, faster, and actively developed (!) version
of NQP.

> We can also include copies of nqp-rx's test suite into the Parrot
> repository, so that NQP and Parrot developers can determine
> that changes to NQP and/or Parrot aren't causing regressions
> for end-users.

+.5.  Seems wise, but not a requirement for me personally.

> If Parrot core chooses not to ship with the nqp base libraries,
> then it essentially means that every installation will need
> a mechanism to obtain the libraries from the nqp-rx repo or
> some other source.
> 
> [...]
> 
> If there's general rejection of the proposal, then we'll
> start building tools for independently downloading, installing,
> and maintaining appropriate NQP versions in a parrot installation
> (this is quite a bit more complex, which is why I'm writing 
> this in hopes of avoiding the complexity).

Oh dear heavens please no.  We'd have to write those in the old NQP --
which means we'd never be able to deprecate and transition off the old
NQP, plus these tools would end up being effectively a special purpose
fork of Plumage.  Going this route seems like a huge mistake to me.


-'f