Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> +It calls the function @code{package-initialize} to activate any
>> +optional Emacs Lisp package that has been installed.  @xref{Packaging
>> +Basics}.  This is not done if @code{package-enable-at-startup} is
>> +@code{nil}, nor if the options @samp{-q}, @samp{-Q}, or @samp{--batch}
>> +were specified.
>
> I would rephrase the last sentence:
>
>   However, when @code{package-enable-at-startup} is @code{nil}, Emacs
>   doesn't initialize packages.  When Emacs is started with one of the
>   options @samp{-q}, @samp{-Q}, or @samp{--batch},
>   @code{package-enable-at-startup} is @code{nil} by default; to
>   initialize packages in that case, explicitly set that variable to a
>   non-@code{nil} value (e.g., via the @samp{--eval} option).

Phrasing is alright, but it's factually inaccurate.  In startup.el we
have

  ;; If any package directory exists, initialize the package system.
  (and user-init-file
       package-enable-at-startup
       ...[lots more file searching]
       (package-initialize))

The -q option sets user-init-file to nil.  I guess we needn't mention
user-init-file by name in the docs as it's an internal detail.  Here's a
new patch: