Re: feature/package+vc 04c4c578c7 3/4: Allow for packages to be installed directly from VCS

[Augusto Stoffel]

On Wed, 16 Feb 2022 at 21:56, Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:

> I don't think we should spend too much time trying to support the case
> where a user only does `git clone` and expects Emacs to notice the new
> package and set it up magically.  Instead, I'd expect
> `package-activate-all` to warn the user about a missing `<pkg>-pkg.el`
> when collecting the available packages and about a missing
> `<pkg>-autoloads.el` file when trying to activate a given package.
>
> Then the user can use some `package-<foo>-refresh` or somesuch to
> (re)create those files (and (re)compile the `.el` files along the way
> and (re)generate the docs, ...).
>
>> Say a repository consists of only an init.el, and a few submoduled git
>> repositories under /elpa/devel/.  These wouldn't include the -pkg.el or
>> -autoload.el files, so they should be generated as soon as necessary.
>
> Let those users write specific code for that if they so wish.
> Generating the `<pkg>-pkg.el` file as well as the `<pkg>-autoloads.el`
> cannot be done fully automatically in all cases.  More specifically it
> may require the package's spec to find the `:main-file` and other such
> things.  I don't think we should aim for that level of automation yet.

It seems reasonable that installing a new package from source will take
a certain number of steps.  On the other hand, there is also the case of
personal configuration files to consider.

Parts of my config are under ~/.emacs.d/lisp and I would like to
autoload (and perhaps byte-compile) definitions from there files without
having to worry about anything.  I believe such a feature would make
sense for lots of people.