Re: document package.el

[Juri Linkov]

> I am wondering, is there a way to give package.el a list of packages to go
> download from ELPA and install? I would also want it to use this list to
> check for new versions of all packages in the list. Either on startup or on
> command (M-x package-upgrade). Also, on a new installation of Emacs I would
> just tell it "Go get the packages in the list" and it would recreate my
> package configuration on that machine. All I need in version control is the
> list as part of my init.el, instead of putting the entire elpa/ directory
> under version control and deploying it to the new machine.

I guess we need something like `require',
e.g. (package-require FEATURE &optional FILENAME NOERROR).

So you could put in your .emacs:

  (package-require 'company)
  (package-require 'js2-mode)
  (package-require 'rainbow-mode)

and it will take care of installing and activating
your preferred packages on a new installation.