With the included file in the current working directory... First, byte compile the file: emacs -Q -batch --eval '(byte-compile-file "pacproxy.el")' Then, from emacs -Q M-: (push default-directory load-path) RET M-x load-library RET pacproxy RET For me, this results in the following warning: Warning (comp): /home/md5i/tmp/tmp/pacproxy.el: Error: Assertion failed (and (< idx (comp-vec-end vec)) (>= idx (comp-vec-beg vec)))