bug#11959: 24.1.50; Warning: Lisp directory `C:/Emacs-24-2012-07-16/../site-lisp' does not exist.

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: "Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> Cc: <11959@debbugs.gnu.org>
> Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2012 08:20:15 -0700
> 
> > The other part of the puzzle is that when Emacs on Windows starts, it
> > always defines EMACSLOADPATH and puts 2 site-lisp directories into it:
> > one that is in the same tree as the binary, which is supposed to be
> > version dependent, and another one that is a sibling of the root of
> > the installed tree, which is supposed to be version-independent.
> 
> You mean that it does so systematically, in a hard-coded fashion?  Or does it
> put those there only if such directories exist?

On Windows, there's no test for their existence.

> > And if we do want to check that, why not exempt the site-lisp
> > directories from the need to exist, like we do in the case where
> > EMACSLOADPATH is not set?
> 
> Such exceptionalism smacks of fragile design.  What applies to site-lisp might
> apply to some other directory as well (tomorrow, if not today).

Not exactly.  The other directories, 'lisp' and 'leim', are _required_
by Emacs, otherwise it's an incomplete package, i.e. a broken
installation.  By contrast, 'site-lisp' is not required for Emacs
operation, it's a convenience for the user to put her local stuff in.
On Unix, Emacs always tested whether site-lisp exists before adding it
to load-path, with the rationale that it's not required.