Should require and provide be symmetrical?

[Nathaniel Flath <flat0103@gmail.com>]

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I came across a problem with require and provide that seems rather
counterintuitive, although it is implicit in the documentaiton.  If one file
provides a feature with (provide 'feature) and another requires it, there is
no guarantee that that specific file is loaded, even if no other file calls
(provide 'feature).  I ran into this whil splitting up my personal
configuration - I was attempting to mirror the packages I was loading, so
for example org.el in my directory would contain customizations for
org-mode.  However, in this file, a (require 'org) would cause an infinite
require error, as it tried to load itself instead of the org.el in emacs.
Should this behaviour be changed, or is there a reason for it?

Thanks,
Nathaniel Flath

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