Re: user-controlled load-path extension: load-dir

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 02:29:02 +0900 "Stephen J. Turnbull" <address@hidden> 
wrote: 

SJT> I can only imagine that a load-dir would very likely be the source
SJT> of numerous bugs as some snippets conflict with or depend on others
SJT> but the automatic loader gets them in the wrong order.

We're just adding a mechanism for easy personal code deployment and
modularization, not a cure for broken code.  If there's a load order
conflict the user will have to figure it out, just like putting loads in
the wrong order in the .emacs file.

SJT> Note also that .d directories generally use some convention (such as
SJT> file names starting with fixed width integers) that ensure that
SJT> snippets sort in the right order.

I'm sure users can use that (I will).  But they can also specify the
order with explicit loads if that's what they need.

SJT> More modern systems use (please sit down, you're in for a shock)
SJT> full-blown dependency systems (requires, provides, conflicts, etc)
SJT> in the snippets, which avoids the need to maintain explicit order
SJT> in favor of a partial order.

That's, again, overengineering the problem (as Mark Twain put it, "with
all the modern inconveniences").

Ted