Am 18.07.2015 um 12:05 schrieb Frank Mittelbach:
> Am 18.07.2015 um 10:59 schrieb Stephan Hennig:
> 
>> and b) means that new features related to resource allocation will be
>> released in sync with new LaTeX versions only (as resource allocation is
>> completely implemented as part of the format).
> 
> 
> right (at least for the broader mass) which is  imho a good thing. 
> Perhaps so much if LaTeX releases are only happening only every couple 
> of years, but then we are currently in the process of setting things up 
> so that this can (and will) happen more often again.
> 
> on the other hand once the base allocations are all provided that is not 
> likely to be an area of much mods - and cutting edge/experimental stuff 
> you can still do on a package level if really necessary

I think you're not taking into account the needs of Lua package authors.
 While a Lua package depends on the LuaTeX engine, it is otherwise
naturally format independent.  Say I write a pure Lua package replacing
all A glyphs by Z in whatever callback.  How do I hook into that
callback in a format independent way?  A luatexbase package that
abstracts from minimal format implementations (as far as such are needed
in a format) would solve that issue.

Best regards,
Stephan Hennig