Re: Summary and next steps for (package-initialize)

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Alex <address@hidden>
> Cc: Radon Rosborough <address@hidden>,  address@hidden
> Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2017 10:37:59 -0600
> 
> There could be a link (and perhaps keybinding) on the splash
> screen/tutorial, where Emacs could ask the user a few questions and
> create an init file for the user. Possible questions include:
> 
> Would you like this file in ~/ or ~/.emacs.d (.emacs vs init.el)?
> 
> Would you like to change some defaults? (This could help out with the
> (IMO correct) notion that Emacs has some poor defaults while leaving
> those alone for users that don't use this template.)
> 
> Would you like to use a separate file for `custom-file'?
> 
> Would you like to set up the package system?
> 
> 
> I believe that this would be a step forward in accommodating new users.

That could be a separate issue, but if we add it, it's different: in
this case the user explicitly tells Emacs to create an init file.
It's conceptually the same as "C-x C-f ~/.emacs RET", just via
different gesture.

By contrast, installing a package doesn't hint on the user's desire to
create an init file in any way.  So we should try to avoid that, IMO.