Re: Quick installation of Emacs modules?

[Jason Earl <jearl@notengoamigos.org>]

On Tue, May 15 2012, kj wrote:

> Suppose that you get wind of an intriguing extension toocool.el,
> and you'd like to take it for a spin right away, in your current
> Emacs session.  Is there some handy extension (e.g.) that would
> let you run something like
>
>   (get-me-right-now "toocool")
>
> to locate toocool.el (through channels suitably vetted to avoid
> unsavory code), download/install it it, and finally load toocool?
> (As a bonus, the details of this process would be cached in a way
> that would facilitate reproducing the current repertoire of additions
> in a different system, for example, or restoring the current one
> if necessary.)
>
> I have not found anything this powerful yet.  The best I've found
> is Stefan Monnier's install.el, but it "only" installs a previously
> downloaded *.el file (I write "only" because I'm sure that there
> are plenty of corner-cases and subtleties that install.el must
> handle correctly).
>
> Is there a shorter distance between wish and reality here?

Emacs 24 will come complete with package.el.  This allows you to add
repositories of packages (it comes with elpa.gnu.org by default) and
install by simply selecting them from a list.

I currently use it to install AucTeX and company-mode, but there are
quite a few packages available that I am itching to try.  I am sure that
once Emacs 24 is actually released this is going to become a *lot* more
popular, as it really simplifies installing Emacs packages.

Jason