Re: user-controlled load-path extension: load-dir

[Ben Key <bkey76@gmail.com>]

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Hello,

I personally do not think that this is a good idea for inclusion in Emacs.
However it is a fairly simple task to implement this feature in Emacs lisp.
I am attaching to this message a quick implementation of this feature I
threw together in about an hour.  I am not familiar with the Emacs package
mechanism but I am certain that this could be converted to an Emacs package
without too much work thus making it easier to install.

For now it can be installed by simply placing the file in a directory
located somewhere in the load path and adding the line
(require 'user-load-dir)
to your either .emacs or site-start.el file.

Then from that point on, it will be possible to do exactly what you want,
place a .el file in the directory specified by the user-load-dir variable
(~/.emacs.d/load by default) and have it loaded without having to make any
additional changes to your .emacs file.

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[-- Attachment #2: user-load-dir.el --]
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;;; user-load-dir.el -- A quick and dirty implementation of a user load
;;; directory.  This file is provided as a possible answer to the
;;; "user-controlled load-path extension: load-dir" discussion on the
;;; emacs-devel list found at
;;; <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2011-03/msg00048.html>.

;;; This could eventually be turned into an Emacs package that can be
;;; installed via package.el.  For now, this file can be installed by
;;; placing it somewhere in your load path and add the line
;;; (require 'user-load-dir)
;;; to your .emacs or site-start.el file.

;;; Copyright (c) 2011 Ben Key

;; This file is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it
;; under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
;; the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
;; (at your option) any later version.
;;
;; This file is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
;; WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
;; General Public License for more details.
;;
;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
;; along with the bk-emacs-tools package.  If not, see
;; <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

(defcustom user-load-dir
  (format "%s.emacs.d/load" (file-name-directory (expand-file-name user-init-file)))
  "A user defined directory in which the user can place .el files that
will automatically be loaded after Emacs initialization is complete."
  :type 'directory
  :group 'initialization
  :require 'user-load-dir
  )

(defun load-user-load-dir-files ()
  "Loads all .el files found in the `user-load-dir.'"
  (interactive)
  (mapc 'load (directory-files user-load-dir t "\\.el\\'"))
  )

(add-hook 'after-init-hook 'load-user-load-dir-files)

(provide 'user-load-dir)