From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: knubee Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: understanding emacs packages Date: Wed, 03 Oct 2007 05:14:21 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Message-ID: <1191413661.873145.69990@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1191415283 21402 80.91.229.12 (3 Oct 2007 12:41:23 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 12:41:23 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Oct 03 14:41:20 2007 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1Id3XQ-0005JV-9l for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:41:16 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Id3XL-0002tn-Iu for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:41:11 -0400 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!postnews.google.com!w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 36 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 218.186.8.10 Original-X-Trace: posting.google.com 1191413662 32198 127.0.0.1 (3 Oct 2007 12:14:22 GMT) Original-X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 12:14:22 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: G2/1.0 X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.6) Gecko/20061201 Firefox/2.0.0.6 (Ubuntu-feisty),gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe) Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com; posting-host=218.186.8.10; posting-account=ps2QrAMAAAA6_jCuRt2JEIpn5Otqf_w0 Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:152568 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:48076 Archived-At: This seems like it may be a faq, but I could not find the answer. When I upgrade my gnu/linux distribution and re-install various emacs applications, it is not always clear to me what is the cause of an error when I run an emacs application. As an example, there may be some oddness inserting dates in org-mode. No errors, but failure to do things. This could be because the gnu/linux distro is still in beta (e.g., ubuntu gutsy), it could be because I have not installed all the necessary emacs packages, or it could be because there non-emacs code/ application that is necessary. So that is my question: how do different approaches to installing emacs packages interact with packages in the existing emacs distribution -- and interact with non-elisp applications? Example: in the synaptic package manager, there is a "planner" package and a "planner-el" package. When I select "planner-el" for installation and "planner" is not required/suggested. - Does this mean that "planner-el" is an elisp implementation of "planner"? - If so, are there cases where there is a "foo-el" package that relies on a "foo" (non-elisp) application. In other words, can a situation arise when I am using an application in emacs and it exhibits odd behavior because a non-emacs application needs to be installed? If so, is it always obvious? And is there a straightforward way to tell if some package is already part of the emacs distribution I am using (so that I do not attempt to download/install it myself)? thanks for any help/pointers.