bug#71789: 29.3; Handling of nested directories of ELPA packages

[Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>]

Jeremy Bryant <jb@jeremybryant.net> writes:

> Xiyue Deng <manphiz@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm opening a bug to follow up the discussion at [1].  Given an ELPA
>> package `elpafoo' that contains another directory `elpabar' that also
>> holds source files, e.g. like the structure below:
>>
>> ,----
>> | ~/.config/emacs/elpa/elpafoo/
>> | ~/.config/emacs/elpa/elpafoo/elpafoo.el
>> | ~/.config/emacs/elpa/elpafoo/elpabar
>> | ~/.config/emacs/elpa/elpafoo/elpabar/elpabar.el
>> `----
>>
>> When installing through package.el, both elpafoo.el and
>> elpabar/elpabar.el will be byte-compiled, but only the root source path
>> `~/.config/emacs/elpa/elpafoo' is added to `load-path', without any of
>> the nested directories.
>>
>> I wonder whether this is the intended behavior regarding `load-path'
>> handling.  If nested directories are added, it has the advantage to
>> allow more fine-grained source organization; as a downside, it may
>> unnecessarily add more unneeded stuff and processing overhead (as
>> Michael pointed out at [2]), and potentially break existing code,
>> e.g. auctex, which seems to vendor stuff in the `style/' directories but
>> not loaded so it's not causing any trouble yet.
>>
>> So I wonder what is the stance of the Emacs maintainer on this subject,
>> or whether this is documented anywhere.  Also one more step: whether
>> there is a recommended layout for source code organization for ELPA
>> packages.

I think it is intentional, because the approach is simple but functional
enough in most instances.  If you need to load a sub-directory, you can
add an autoloaded `add-to-list' expression in elpafoo.el.

>> [1] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2024-05/msg00658.html
>> [2] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2024-05/msg01039.html
>>
>>
>>
>> In GNU Emacs 29.3 (build 1, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.24.38,
>>  cairo version 1.16.0) of 2024-05-20, modified by Debian built on sbuild
>> Windowing system distributor 'The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.12101007
>> System Description: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
>>
>> Configured using:
>>  'configure --build x86_64-linux-gnu --prefix=/usr
>>  --sharedstatedir=/var/lib --libexecdir=/usr/libexec
>>  --localstatedir=/var/lib --infodir=/usr/share/info
>>  --mandir=/usr/share/man --with-libsystemd --with-pop=yes
>>  --enable-locallisppath=/etc/emacs:/usr/local/share/emacs/29.3/site-lisp:/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp:/usr/share/emacs/29.3/site-lisp:/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp
>>  --with-sound=alsa --without-gconf --with-mailutils
>>  --with-native-compilation --build x86_64-linux-gnu --prefix=/usr
>>  --sharedstatedir=/var/lib --libexecdir=/usr/libexec
>>  --localstatedir=/var/lib --infodir=/usr/share/info
>>  --mandir=/usr/share/man --with-libsystemd --with-pop=yes
>>  --enable-locallisppath=/etc/emacs:/usr/local/share/emacs/29.3/site-lisp:/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp:/usr/share/emacs/29.3/site-lisp:/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp
>>  --with-sound=alsa --without-gconf --with-mailutils
>>  --with-native-compilation --with-cairo --with-x=yes
>>  --with-x-toolkit=gtk3 --with-toolkit-scroll-bars 'CFLAGS=-g -O2
>>  -ffile-prefix-map=/build/reproducible-path/emacs-29.3+1=. -fstack-protector-strong
>>  -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Wall' 'CPPFLAGS=-Wdate-time
>>  -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2' LDFLAGS=-Wl,-z,relro'
>>
>> Configured features:
>> ACL CAIRO DBUS FREETYPE GIF GLIB GMP GNUTLS GPM GSETTINGS HARFBUZZ JPEG
>> JSON LCMS2 LIBOTF LIBSELINUX LIBSYSTEMD LIBXML2 M17N_FLT MODULES
>> NATIVE_COMP NOTIFY INOTIFY PDUMPER PNG RSVG SECCOMP SOUND SQLITE3
>> THREADS TIFF TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS TREE_SITTER WEBP X11 XDBE XIM XINPUT2
>> XPM GTK3 ZLIB
>>
>> Important settings:
>>   value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8
>>   value of $XMODIFIERS: @im=ibus
>>   locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix
>>
>> Major mode: Lisp Interaction
>>
>> Minor modes in effect:
>>   global-git-commit-mode: t
>>   magit-auto-revert-mode: t
>>   shell-dirtrack-mode: t
>>   windmove-mode: t
>>   rcirc-track-minor-mode: t
>>   server-mode: t
>>   subword-mode: t
>>   bug-reference-prog-mode: t
>>   whitespace-mode: t
>>   yas-minor-mode: t
>>   xclip-mode: t
>>   global-treesit-auto-mode: t
>>   treemacs-project-follow-mode: t
>>   treemacs-follow-mode: t
>>   treemacs-git-mode: t
>>   treemacs-fringe-indicator-mode: t
>>   corfu-terminal-mode: t
>>   corfu-popupinfo-mode: t
>>   corfu-echo-mode: t
>>   global-corfu-mode: t
>>   corfu-mode: t
>>   activities-tabs-mode: t
>>   activities-mode: t
>>   fido-vertical-mode: t
>>   icomplete-vertical-mode: t
>>   icomplete-mode: t
>>   fido-mode: t
>>   override-global-mode: t
>>   global-display-line-numbers-mode: t
>>   display-line-numbers-mode: t
>>   global-auto-revert-mode: t
>>   tooltip-mode: t
>>   global-eldoc-mode: t
>>   eldoc-mode: t
>>   show-paren-mode: t
>>   electric-indent-mode: t
>>   mouse-wheel-mode: t
>>   tool-bar-mode: t
>>   tab-bar-mode: t
>>   file-name-shadow-mode: t
>>   global-font-lock-mode: t
>>   font-lock-mode: t
>>   blink-cursor-mode: t
>>   column-number-mode: t
>>   line-number-mode: t
>>   transient-mark-mode: t
>>   auto-composition-mode: t
>>   auto-encryption-mode: t
>>   auto-compression-mode: t
>>
>> Load-path shadows:
>> /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/elpa/debian-el-37.13/debian-autoloads hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/elpa/gnuplot-0.8.1/debian-autoloads
>> /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/elpa/magit-3.3.0/magit-section hides /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/elpa/magit-section-3.3.0/magit-section
>>
>> Features:
>> (shadow emacsbug git-rebase tabify ert-x python etags fileloop generator
>> java-ts-mode c-ts-common sh-script smie executable debian-copyright
>> debian-changelog-mode noutline outline shortdoc completion
>> debian-control-mode cl-print help-fns radix-tree tramp-cmds
>> gitignore-mode conf-mode tramp-container tramp-sh tramp-cache time-stamp
>> dockerfile-ts-mode yaml-ts-mode reporter debian-bts-control debian-bug
>> reveal mailalias goto-addr vterm tramp tramp-loaddefs trampver
>> tramp-integration files-x tramp-compat term ehelp vterm-module misearch
>> multi-isearch shr-color flow-fill matlab matlab-scan matlab-syntax
>> matlab-compat qp url-http url-gw url-auth url-queue url-cache mm-archive
>> sort gnus-cite mail-extr textsec uni-scripts idna-mapping ucs-normalize
>> uni-confusable textsec-check gnus-async gnus-bcklg gnus-ml magit-extras
>> eglot external-completion array jsonrpc ert ewoc debug backtrace
>> find-func xref pcase perl-mode face-remap magit-bookmark magit-submodule
>> magit-obsolete magit-blame magit-stash magit-reflog magit-bisect
>> magit-push magit-pull magit-fetch magit-clone magit-remote magit-commit
>> magit-sequence magit-notes magit-worktree magit-tag magit-merge
>> magit-branch magit-reset magit-files magit-refs magit-status magit
>> magit-repos magit-apply magit-wip magit-log which-func imenu magit-diff
>> smerge-mode diff git-commit log-edit add-log magit-core magit-autorevert
>> magit-margin magit-transient magit-process with-editor shell pcomplete
>> magit-mode transient format-spec magit-git magit-section magit-utils crm
>> dired-aux mule-util jka-compr gnus-topic cursor-sensor utf-7 nnfolder
>> gnus-demon nnml ezgnus gnus-delay gnus-draft gnus-agent gnus-srvr
>> gnus-score score-mode nnvirtual nntp gnus-cache gnus-msg gnus-art mm-uu
>> mml2015 mm-view mml-smime smime dig gnus-sum shr pixel-fill kinsoku
>> url-file svg dom nndraft nnmh gnus-group gnus-undo smtpmail gnus-start
>> gnus-dbus dbus xml gnus-cloud nnimap nnmail mail-source utf7 nnoo
>> gnus-spec gnus-int gnus-range message sendmail yank-media rfc822 mml
>> mml-sec mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 rfc2047 rfc2045
>> ietf-drums mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader gnus-win gnus nnheader
>> gnus-util mail-utils range mm-util mail-prsvr windmove flyspell ispell
>> gnutls network-stream puny nsm epa-file epa derived epg rfc6068
>> epg-config rcirc parse-time iso8601 time-date term/xterm xterm comp
>> comp-cstr server cap-words superword subword vc-hg vc-git diff-mode
>> vc-bzr vc-src vc-sccs vc-svn vc-cvs vc-rcs log-view pcvs-util vc
>> vc-dispatcher bug-reference disp-table whitespace yasnippet-snippets
>> yasnippet cus-edit cus-start wid-edit init zenburn-theme xclip
>> treesit-auto treesit treemacs-project-follow-mode treemacs-follow-mode
>> treemacs-rendering treemacs-annotations treemacs-async treemacs-visuals
>> treemacs-fringe-indicator pulse color treemacs-workspaces treemacs-dom
>> treemacs-icons treemacs-themes treemacs-scope treemacs-core-utils
>> treemacs-logging treemacs-customization pfuture inline ht s hl-line dash
>> keychain-environment exec-path-from-shell corfu-terminal popon
>> corfu-popupinfo corfu-echo corfu compat activities-tabs activities
>> persist bookmark pp edmacro kmacro advice icomplete cus-load
>> flymake-proc flymake project compile text-property-search comint
>> ansi-osc ansi-color ring warnings icons thingatpt cl-extra help-mode
>> use-package use-package-ensure use-package-delight use-package-diminish
>> use-package-bind-key bind-key easy-mmode use-package-core
>> display-line-numbers autorevert filenotify
>> keychain-environment-autoloads treesit-auto-autoloads xclip-autoloads rx
>> info debian-el dired dired-loaddefs finder-inf package browse-url url
>> url-proxy url-privacy url-expand url-methods url-history url-cookie
>> generate-lisp-file url-domsuf url-util mailcap url-handlers url-parse
>> auth-source cl-seq eieio eieio-core cl-macs password-cache json subr-x
>> map byte-opt gv bytecomp byte-compile url-vars cl-loaddefs cl-lib rmc
>> iso-transl tooltip cconv eldoc paren electric uniquify ediff-hook
>> vc-hooks lisp-float-type elisp-mode mwheel term/x-win x-win
>> term/common-win x-dnd tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt fringe
>> tabulated-list replace newcomment text-mode lisp-mode prog-mode register
>> page tab-bar menu-bar rfn-eshadow isearch easymenu timer select
>> scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax font-core term/tty-colors
>> frame minibuffer nadvice seq simple cl-generic indonesian philippine
>> cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao
>> korean japanese eucjp-ms cp51932 hebrew greek romanian slovak czech
>> european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese composite emoji-zwj charscript
>> charprop case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help abbrev obarray oclosure
>> cl-preloaded button loaddefs theme-loaddefs faces cus-face macroexp
>> files window text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env
>> code-pages mule custom widget keymap hashtable-print-readable backquote
>> threads dbusbind inotify lcms2 dynamic-setting system-font-setting
>> font-render-setting cairo move-toolbar gtk x-toolkit xinput2 x multi-tty
>> make-network-process native-compile emacs)
>>
>> Memory information:
>> ((conses 16 4151836 235820)
>>  (symbols 48 38894 35)
>>  (strings 32 186143 40188)
>>  (string-bytes 1 6165556)
>>  (vectors 16 121009)
>>  (vector-slots 8 3140568 287319)
>>  (floats 8 1184 5120)
>>  (intervals 56 274782 3076)
>>  (buffers 984 145))
>
> Adding Philip who may have thoughts regarding ELPA structure.
>
>
>
>

-- 
	Philip Kaludercic on peregrine