Re: Bundling GNU ELPA packages with Emacs - what are we missing?

[Andy Moreton <andrewjmoreton@gmail.com>]

On Thu 10 Sep 2020, Stefan Monnier wrote:

>> The term "activate" is used many times wrt packages, but is not
>> defined anywhere. How are users meant to understand what it means ?
>
> It means to add its files to the `load-path` and run the code indicated
> by the autoload cookies (i.e. mostly setup some autoloads, potentially
> add itself to some menu, or things like that).
>
> Usually, for major modes it's the only thing necessary for the
> major mode to be automatically used on the appropriate files.
>
> Package.el does it in `package-activate-all` (also called by
> `package-initialize`, tho it depends on some details, for historical
> reasons).

A clear explanation - thanks. The problem however is that this term is
not defined in package.el or in the manual. The doc string for
`package-activate' does not describe what activate means in this
context, leaving readers none the wiser.

Please add this description to package.el and to the manual.

    AndyM