emacspeak and emacs packages

[Tim Cross <tcross@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

A couple of weeks ago I posted to this list regarding problems I was
having with folding-mode under emacspeak. Raman replied saying that he
had found problems with the 2.x version of folding mode and used an
earlier mode which he posted to the list. I've since installed this
mode and everything seems to work well now. 

This is not the first time I've encountered problems like this -
getting the version of an emacs package which workds well with
emacspeak is not always as easy as finding the latest package and
installing it. It seems that in some situations, you are better off
with an earlier version which works better or is more stable when run
in conjunction with emacspeak. It also seems that the emacs archive at
ohio state is not as up-to-date as it could be due to a lack of people
with the time to do the maintenance etc. 

I would like to make a suggestion which might make life easier for all
of us and provide more resources etc for emacspeak users. My
suggestion is we create an emacs subsystem archive which contains
copies of emacspeak packages known to work well with the latest
version of emacspeak. In addition to the packages, this archive could
also contain sample configuration settings which users could use as a
guide in setting up their system. 

I remember at one stage, Raman had a subsystem subdirectory which
contained copies of some of the packages he used with emacspeak, but I
don't think its there anymore (Raman, correct me if I'm wrong
here). Ideally, if we were to do this, it would be best if the archive
was part of the main emacspeak ftp site, but if this is not possible,
(because of lack of space, people to maintain it etc), I can make
space available here and am prepared to take on the maintenance of
such a site. I'm thinking of setting up a mirror of the main emacspeak
site anyway (to provide an Australian mirror). Emacspeak users could
then contribute configuration examples/tips, packages which they have
found work well with emacspeak, etc. to this archive. This could then
become the first place emacspeak users could check when looking for an
emacs package and version known to work well with emacspeak etc. 

What to people think? Is this worth doing or are there just too many
emacs packages to worry about? What would be the best way to do this?
Does anyone have suggestions etc. 

Tim

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