package.el, auto-installation, and auto-removal

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

`package.el' is great to install packages more easily, but it falls short
when you want to keep the same set of installed packages on various
machines, or when it's time to remove package you don't need because it
doesn't distinguish between the packages you want and those required
by those packages.

So I'm looking for some kind soul who could extend package.el so as to
keep track of the packages that the user installed explicitly.
This should likely be kept in a custom variable.

Then we could add a command to install all the packages listed in
that variable.  And we could also write a function that deletes all
"orphan" packages.


        Stefan