subdirs works for emacs but fails for me -- why?

subdirs works for emacs but fails for me -- why?

[rustom]

Can someone explain the subdirs.el mechanism?

A subdirs.el in the load-path typically has the magic mantra

(if (fboundp 'normal-top-level-add-subdirs-to-load-path)
    (normal-top-level-add-subdirs-to-load-path))

When emacs finds such a file it adds the subdirs to the load-path
If I put a similar file in my load-path it does not do any good.

Also why the fboundp stuff? And not just a simple call

(normal-top-level-add-subdirs-to-load-path)

Re: subdirs works for emacs but fails for me -- why?

[Glenn Morris]

rustom wrote:

> When emacs finds such a file it adds the subdirs to the load-path
> If I put a similar file in my load-path it does not do any good.

subdirs.el is an internal mechanism that by design only works for
"standard" Emacs directories, not any that you might happen to add to
load-path (eg in .emacs).

> Also why the fboundp stuff?

Perhaps for compatibility for Emacs versions without this function, eg
if they happen to share site-lisp directories.

Re: subdirs works for emacs but fails for me -- why?

[Kevin Rodgers]

Glenn Morris wrote:
> rustom wrote:
> 
>> When emacs finds such a file it adds the subdirs to the load-path
>> If I put a similar file in my load-path it does not do any good.
> 
> subdirs.el is an internal mechanism that by design only works for
> "standard" Emacs directories, not any that you might happen to add to
> load-path (eg in .emacs).

But if one initializes load-path via the EMACSLOADPATH environment variable,
it looks like the subdirs.el trick will work.

>> Also why the fboundp stuff?
> 
> Perhaps for compatibility for Emacs versions without this function, eg
> if they happen to share site-lisp directories.

-- 
Kevin Rodgers
Denver, Colorado, USA