Re: package.el dependencies

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

>> +(defcustom packages-installed-directly nil
>> +  "Store here packages installed explicitely by user.
>> +This variable will be feeded automaticaly by emacs,
>> +so you should not modify it yourself.
> Then don't make it a defcustom :-).

I agree with Arthur's reaction to the docstring's message.  But I think
in reality the problem is in the docstring: there's nothing wrong with
setting this variable via Custom (or via setq).
We should very much support such usage.

E.g. we should provide a command which makes sure that all packages in
packages-installed-directly are indeed installed.  So a user can copy
her init file to a new computer and then use this command to
auto-install all the packages she likes.

Of course, this also hints at the fact that the name is not right.
The name should be more along the lines of "user selected packages", or
something like that.


        Stefan