Re: Load ESS lisp file from user directory instead of from shared location

[Tim X <timx@nospam.dev.null>]

epowell <epowell1@med.miami.edu> writes:

> Hello,  
>
> I noticed that I have been using an old version of ESS (stored on a shared
> location) and wanted to upgrade to the more recent one.  Rather than contact
> the sysadmins, I was hoping I could do this locally.
>
> I downloaded the newest version and placed the folder here:
> ~/elisp/ess-5.12/ and I added 
> (require 'ess-site) to my .emacs file.  Note that my .emacs file also has
> (add-to-list 'load-path "~/elisp"). 
>
> Unfortunately, I do not think this worked because when I open an R script
> then open an R process, it says: "Type C-h m for help on ESS version 5.3.3". 
> (Aside question: Is there any better way to check the version of ESS which
> is running?) 
>
> My first thought was that the load path was not searching in the
> subdirectories of ~/elisp.  Is this true?  I tried to account for that by
> also putting this in my .emacs :
>
> (let ((default-directory "~/elisp"))
>       (normal-top-level-add-to-load-path '("ess-5.12" "cedet-1.0pre7")))
>
> This also did not help.  I'm running gnu emacs 21.4.1.

,----[ C-h f list-load-path-shadows RET ]
| list-load-path-shadows is an interactive autoloaded Lisp function in
| `shadow.el'.
| 
| (list-load-path-shadows &optional STRINGP)
| 
| Display a list of Emacs Lisp files that shadow other files.
| 
| If STRINGP is non-nil, returns any shadows as a string.
| Otherwise, if interactive shows any shadows in a `*Shadows*' buffer;
| else prints messages listing any shadows.
| 
| This function lists potential load path problems.  Directories in
| the `load-path' variable are searched, in order, for Emacs Lisp
| files.  When a previously encountered file name is found again, a
| message is displayed indicating that the later file is "hidden" by
| the earlier.
| 
| For example, suppose `load-path' is set to
| 
| ("/usr/gnu/emacs/site-lisp" "/usr/gnu/emacs/share/emacs/19.30/lisp")
| 
| and that each of these directories contains a file called XXX.el.  Then
| XXX.el in the site-lisp directory is referred to by all of:
| (require 'XXX), (autoload .... "XXX"), (load-library "XXX") etc.
| 
| The first XXX.el file prevents Emacs from seeing the second (unless
| the second is loaded explicitly via `load-file').
| 
| When not intended, such shadowings can be the source of subtle
| problems.  For example, the above situation may have arisen because the
| XXX package was not distributed with versions of Emacs prior to
| 19.30.  An Emacs maintainer downloaded XXX from elsewhere and installed
| it.  Later, XXX was updated and included in the Emacs distribution.
| Unless the Emacs maintainer checks for this, the new version of XXX
| will be hidden behind the old (which may no longer work with the new
| Emacs version).
| 
| This function performs these checks and flags all possible
| shadowings.  Because a .el file may exist without a corresponding .elc
| (or vice-versa), these suffixes are essentially ignored.  A file
| XXX.elc in an early directory (that does not contain XXX.el) is
| considered to shadow a later file XXX.el, and vice-versa.
| 
| Shadowings are located by calling the (non-interactive) companion
| function, `load-path-shadows-find'.
`----

-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au