Re: Emacs cvs newbie problems

[Luc Teirlinck <teirllm@dms.auburn.edu>]

Steven T. Hatton wrote:

   I was actually asking if there is a list of what packages 'should' be 
   installed in order for Emacs to act 'normal'.

To look "normal" to me, none.  To look "normal" to you, I have no
idea.

   I also was looking for 
   something which will tell me how to install packages in the
   'correct' way.

To install package foo, put

(require 'foo)

in your .emacs.  Some packages may require additional steps.  This is
usually mentioned in the documentation for the package.

I believe you can get help for such questions at gnu.emacs.help.
This is a site for Emacs development.

   Here's an example of what's going on: When I open an elisp file and
   select Options->Syntax Highlighting, I get an error message in the
   echo area saying: "Wrong type argument: commandp, (quote
   global-font-lock-mode)"
   
This seems to be a different matter.  I do not use the menu-bar
myself, so I have no experience with this.  I reproduced the described
behavior using emacs-21.3.50 -q.  Something similar happens for the
two options right below it.  The menu-bar is meant for beginning
users.  Hence I believe you should not have to worry about which
packages should be loaded.  I believe that should be done
automatically for you.  I personally have the impression that this is
a bug.  (It seems to me that somehow these commands got quoted in a
situation where they should not have been.)

Sincerely,

Luc.