On Sat, May 26, 2007 at 09:00:32PM -0400, Richard Stallman wrote:
>     I know that sharing bytecode is bad.  I just didn't know what to do
>     about it.
> 
> You could put the bytecode in
> /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, which is a standard element
> of load-path, version-specific.  The source code could go in
> /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp.  If package.el finds the source
> code and not the binary, it can compile for the current Emacs version.

...except that package.el is (correct me if I'm wrong) intended to be
run by nonpriviledged users, and therefore only $HOME and $TMPDIR are
(typically) writable.

I earlier suggested something like 

    $HOME/.emacs.d/elpa/lisp

for sources, and

    $HOME/.emacs.d/elpa/VERSION

for byte-code, but David suggested this would cause problems.  I
confess I don't quite understand what those problems are.
-- 
Trent Buck