🚀 go-pugleaf

A Plea for the Status Quo:
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   Please, do NOT change the name of ISPELL.  Let me rephrase that.  If ISPELL
is to be renamed, then, please, give us all very good reasons why.  There may
well be good reasons, and I may well be convinced, but let's hear them!


My Penny's Worth
----------------
   I have just gone through the shinannigans of adapting to gzip producing ?.gz
files instead of ?.z files.  I had to search for gzip-1.1.1.z, and that meant
traipsing off to the computer centre.  Once I had it, I compiled it, changed
all my ?.z file to ?.gz, and then started trying to work out how I could change
z-mode.el so that ?.gz files can be used.  Not being an elisp expert, after
several, failed attempts at trying to modify z-mode.el so that BOTH ?.Z and
?.gz would be decompressed be emacs, I eventually plumbed for having both a
z-mode.el and a gz-mode.el.  By now, I had lost somewhere between 1 and 2
hours.  I then set about implementing my changes on the other 3 computers for
which I am responsible.  All said and done, I am sure I wasted at least 3-4
hours!  Let's multiply that by the number of others who maintain GNU software
throughout the world, and you will have probably tens of thousands of man hours
wasted, and all for what is apparently only a handful of disssidents!

   All this, of course has nothing to do with ISPELL; nothing, that is, except
that, if ISPELL is renamed, then we can all waste a lot more time renaming the
ISPELL program, modifying our .emacs, and modifying our elisp files files that
many of us don't fully understand anyway.  All in all, thousands of man hours
will be lost again, and, from what I can see, no real purpose.

   Name overloading is a rather aggressive thing to do.  Actually, I think
Richard Stallman had his head screwed on when he wanted gzip to produce ?.Z
files.  Within a month or so, there would not have been any compress programs
left in the world!  I think this would have been a good idea, despite the
initial confusion it would have caused, because, let's face it, gzip is better.
Rumour has it the compress is not public domain, so targeting it by name
overloading seems to me to be legitimate.  Does the FSF wish to target ISPELL
in this way?  From the outside, it would appear as if it does!

   For me, the bottom line is that I am very contented with ISPELL, and, unless
anyone can produce compelling arguments to the contrary, the FSF should save us
all a lot of trouble by calling their product something different.


		Mike Dowling