Re: [Emacs-diffs] master add49b6: * lisp/emacs-lisp/package.el: Reduce autoloading before compiling

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

> IIUC, there are only two things in package-activate-1 that affect
> byte-compilation: setting the load-path and loading the autoloads
> file.

Hmm... I think that "Call `load' on all files in `pkg-dir' already present in
`load-history'" would also affect compilation, so it should be in
package--activate-autoloads-and-load-path.

> 1) `package-activate-1' has a couple of line that shouldn't be called
> twice, like (push name package-activated-list) and (push pkg-dir
> Info-directory-list).

They should be fixed to be idempotent since that can happen in any case
if the package was activated and then gets updated (and hence re-activated).

> 2) It's just confusing to see a package being activated twice
> throughout a single installation. I find it more informative to do
> specifically what we want (i.e., load autloads and set load-path
> before compilation).

That makes sense.  I think compilation is a separate step which should
be optional (and as mentioned elsewhere, we should have a command to
perform (re)compilation of a package separately afterwards).

So the presence of two "activation" calls is legitimate (the one for
compilation is needed if the package was not activated yet, and the
other is needed if compilation did not happen).  But I wonder why they
should be different.  Can't we just have the "non-compilation
activation" be performed before compilation takes place, and then change
compilation so that it only activates the package if that was not
done yet?


        Stefan