bug#17841: 24.3; Info description of Emacs startup could better describe package initialization

bug#17841: 24.3; Info description of Emacs startup could better describe package initialization

[alan.wehmann]

This bug report will be sent to the Bug-GNU-Emacs mailing list
and the GNU bug tracker at debbugs.gnu.org.  Please check that
the From: line contains a valid email address.  After a delay of up
to one day, you should receive an acknowledgment at that address.

Please write in English if possible, as the Emacs maintainers
usually do not have translators for other languages.

Please describe exactly what actions triggered the bug, and
the precise symptoms of the bug.  If you can, give a recipe
starting from `emacs -Q':

Info node "(emacs) Initial Options" says:

"   Some initial options affect the loading of the initialization file.
Normally, Emacs first loads `site-start.el' if it exists, then your own
initialization file if it exists, and finally the default
initialization file `default.el' if it exists (*note Init File::)."

It fails to mention package initialization in this paragraph & I think
that it should.  It is one of the first places where I looked to find
out when in the startup sequence packages are initialized.  I found
other locations which described when packages are initializaed, but was
confused for a while after reading this paragraph and no mention was
made of package initialization.

-------------------------------------------------------

More specifics: I had upgraded bookmarks+ via melpa.  Since I already
had melpa in the 'package-archives list I had removed the following code
from my initialization file:

(when (> emacs-major-version 23)
  (require 'package)
  (package-initialize)
  (add-to-list 'package-archives 
	       '("melpa" . "http://melpa.milkbox.net/packages/")
	       'APPEND))

I then realized that the variable load-path wasn't pointing to
"~/.emacs.d/elpa/bookmark+-20140531.104" just after my initialization
file was loaded (but it was added later).  Since I had a reason to have
"(require 'bookmark+)" in my initialization file, I ran into trouble.

I have since restored the lines

(when (> emacs-major-version 23)
  (require 'package)
  (package-initialize))

to my initialization file.


If Emacs crashed, and you have the Emacs process in the gdb debugger,
please include the output from the following gdb commands:
    `bt full' and `xbacktrace'.
For information about debugging Emacs, please read the file
/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/etc/DEBUG.


In GNU Emacs 24.3.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin, NS apple-appkit-1038.36)
 of 2013-03-12 on bob.porkrind.org
Windowing system distributor `Apple', version 10.3.1265
Configured using:
 `configure '--host=x86_64-apple-darwin' '--build=i686-apple-darwin'
'--with-ns' 'build_alias=i686-apple-darwin'
'host_alias=x86_64-apple-darwin' 'CC=gcc -mmacosx-version-min=10.7
-isystem
/Users/david/Xcode-10.7_4.5.2/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.7.sdk/usr/include/
-F/Users/david/Xcode-10.7_4.5.2/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.7.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks''

Important settings:
  locale-coding-system: nil
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Custom

Minor modes in effect:
  mail-abbrevs-mode: t
  display-time-mode: t
  dynamic-completion-mode: t
  desktop-save-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  tool-bar-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t

Recent input:
n C-d C-d / C-f C-f C-f C-f C-f C-f C-f C-f C-f C-f 
C-d C-d / C-x C-s C-v C-v C-v <escape> x C-g <escape> 
: ( b m <backspace> <backspace> C-g C-h f v m - s e 
s s <tab> C-SPC C-a <escape> w C-g <escape> : ( C-y 
) <return> C-h v v m - u s e r - a g e n t <return> 
C-g C-x 1 C-x C-b C-c C-c C-x C-b n n n n n n n SPC 
<left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> 
<left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> 
<left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> 
<left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> 
<left> <left> <left> <left> <left> C-h f <return> q 
<escape> , <escape> , C-x C-b n n n n n n SPC <left> 
C-x C-b <escape> > SPC q <down> <left> <left> <left> 
<left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> <left> 
<left> C-h f <return> <help-echo> <down-mouse-1> <mouse-2> 
C-f C-x p m <escape> C-w <escape> C-w <escape> C-w 
<escape> C-w <return> C-l C-l C-h i g ( v m ) <return> 
m s e n d <tab> <return> SPC SPC 1 <help-echo> <down-mouse-1> 
<mouse-1> C-h v <return> q <escape> x c u s t o m i 
z e - v a r <tab> <return> <return> <down-mouse-1> 
<down-mouse-1> <mouse-1> A l a n . W e h m a n n @ 
g m a i l . c o m <help-echo> <down-mouse-1> C-x C-b 
n n n n n n n n n n n n n n SPC C-SPC C-v <down> <down> 
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> 
<down> C-x r s c C-x C-b d SPC <escape> x r e p o r 
t <tab> <return>

Recent messages:

Creating customization items...
Creating customization items ...done
Resetting customization items...done
Creating customization setup...done
To install your edits, invoke [State] and choose the Set operation
<<< Type SPC or RET to bury the buffer list >>>
Mark activated
Saved text from "This bug report will be sent to the Bug-"
<<< Type SPC or RET to bury the buffer list >>> [3 times]

Load-path shadows:
/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/whitespace hides /Users/alanwehmann/elisp/whitespace
/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/align hides /Users/alanwehmann/elisp/align
/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/textmodes/texinfo hides /Users/alanwehmann/elisp/my_lisp/texinfo
/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/lisp/macros hides /Users/alanwehmann/elisp/my_lisp/macros

Features:
(etags sh-script smie executable vc-bzr find-func uudecode uce
supercite regi starttls spam-report spam spam-stat gnus-uu yenc
gnus-msg gnus-art mm-uu mml2015 epg-config mm-view mml-smime smime dig
mailcap gnus-sum nnoo gnus-group gnus-undo nnmail mail-source
gnus-start gnus-spec gnus-int gnus-range gnus-win sieve-manage shr
rmail pop3 mspools metamail mairix mailclient browse-url mail-hist
ring mail-extr imap hashcash gnus-dired gnus gnus-ems nnheader fortune
feedmail eudc-vars ecomplete binhex jka-compr shadow mailalias
vm-reply emacsbug message cl-macs gv format-spec rfc822 mml mml-sec
mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 gmm-utils mailheader
view misearch multi-isearch dired-aux mailabbrev mule-util ebuff-menu
electric image-file parse-time vc-cvs cus-edit wid-edit time warnings
edmacro kmacro smtpmail auth-source eieio byte-opt bytecomp
byte-compile cconv gnus-util password-cache sendmail rfc2047 rfc2045
ietf-drums mail-utils vm-rfaddons vm-undo vm-virtual vm-summary-faces
utf7 mm-util mail-prsvr vm-imap vm-thread vm-mime vm-toolbar vm-menu
vm-window vm-folder vm-crypto vm-summary vm-mouse vm-page vm-motion
vm-minibuf vm-message vm-misc vm-macro edebug vm-pop vm-autoloads
vm-vars vm-version vm completion cl bookmark+ bookmark+-key easy-mmode
advice help-fns cl-lib advice-preload dired-x dired bookmark+-1
bookmark+-bmu help-mode bookmark+-lit bookmark pp thingatpt info
easymenu desktop cus-start cus-load bookmark+-autoloads package
time-date tooltip ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel ns-win
tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt fringe tabulated-list newcomment
lisp-mode register page menu-bar rfn-eshadow timer select scroll-bar
mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu font-core frame cham georgian
utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean
japanese hebrew greek romanian slovak czech european ethiopic indian
cyrillic chinese case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev
minibuffer loaddefs button faces cus-face macroexp files
text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env code-pages mule
custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote make-network-process
ns multi-tty emacs)

-- 
Alan Wehmann
Alan.Wehmann@gmail.com

bug#17841: 24.3; Info description of Emacs startup could better describe package initialization

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: alan.wehmann@gmail.com
> Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 21:47:33 -0500
> 
> Info node "(emacs) Initial Options" says:
> 
> "   Some initial options affect the loading of the initialization file.
> Normally, Emacs first loads `site-start.el' if it exists, then your own
> initialization file if it exists, and finally the default
> initialization file `default.el' if it exists (*note Init File::)."
> 
> It fails to mention package initialization in this paragraph & I think
> that it should.  It is one of the first places where I looked to find
> out when in the startup sequence packages are initialized.  I found
> other locations which described when packages are initializaed, but was
> confused for a while after reading this paragraph and no mention was
> made of package initialization.

In the Emacs manual, I typed "i package TAB TAB" and was presented
with a list that included "package-install" and "package-initialize".
They both land me in the "Package Installation" section which seems to
describe what you wanted.

bug#17841: 24.3; Info description of Emacs startup could better describe package initialization

[Stefan Kangas]

tags 17841 + wontfix
close 17841
quit

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> Info node "(emacs) Initial Options" says:
>>
>> "   Some initial options affect the loading of the initialization file.
>> Normally, Emacs first loads `site-start.el' if it exists, then your own
>> initialization file if it exists, and finally the default
>> initialization file `default.el' if it exists (*note Init File::)."
>>
>> It fails to mention package initialization in this paragraph & I think
>> that it should.  It is one of the first places where I looked to find
>> out when in the startup sequence packages are initialized.  I found
>> other locations which described when packages are initializaed, but was
>> confused for a while after reading this paragraph and no mention was
>> made of package initialization.
>
> In the Emacs manual, I typed "i package TAB TAB" and was presented
> with a list that included "package-install" and "package-initialize".
> They both land me in the "Package Installation" section which seems to
> describe what you wanted.

I agree with Eli, and there's been no other opinions expressed in 5
years.  I'm therefore closing this as wontfix.

If anyone disagrees, feel free to reopen.

Thanks,
Stefan Kangas