> I think optional packages are just as important as core packages, but one > thing I'd like to just insert in this discussion is that emailing a message > does not seem to me to be something that should be included as a core > taskdef. It makes more sense to include this as an optional taskdef because > it does not increase the runtime requirements ( See Duncan's spec doc at > http://jakarta.apache.org/cvsweb/index.cgi/jakarta-ant/spec/core.html?rev=1. > 1&content-type=text/vnd.viewcvs-markup ).
So the question is, "Is it better to keep Ant's dependencies on external JAR files to a minimum, or is it better to provide a set of core tasks that can be relied upon to work the same across all build machines?" I choose the latter. If there's a small freely redistributable JAR that enables a task worthy of being core, I'd like to see it included. If it's large JAR or not freely redist, but the task is still important, then as a last resort we make it an optional task. > Further down that road, I don't think that the Ant project should contain > any code that deals specfically with sending email when there is an > established and widely embraced standard in JavaMail. We could reimplement > this under APL in the future, How annoying. This increases my belief that an open source project (such as Perl) has more right to be called an "open standard" than a JCP standard where there isn't a freely redistributable implementation (as appears to be the case with JavaMail) and where bugs can't be fixed without legal implications. -jh-
