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

[Dimitri Fontaine]

Ben Key <address@hidden> writes: 
> I am more than willing to continue development of this file into 
> an Emacs package that can be included in ELPA.  This would make 
> it possible for this useful feature to be made readily available 
> to those who want to use it without including it in Emacs 
> itself. 

In my opinion, the biggest value by far of such a feature is to be 
able to depend on `user-load-dir' with no active collaboration of 
the user.  So please consider including in Emacs, not as an 
additional package.   Really the goal is to simplify as much as 
possible the steps required to install a new elisp file as a user. 
See how it goes each time (and that's only too often each day) on 
the help channel:  20:55 <dim> ,install
20:55 <fsbot> install -- [0] To install a <file>.el, save it to, 
say ~/elisp
20:55 <fsbot> [1] add to the beginning of ~/.emacs: (add-to-list 
'load-path 
             "~/elisp"), ..[Type ,more]
20:55 <dim> ,m
20:56 <fsbot> [2] now FOLLOW THE INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS IN THE 
FILE, 
             typically adding (require '<file>) to the end of 
             ~/.emacs,
20:56 <fsbot> [3] see 
http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?LoadPath, ..[Type 
             ,more]
20:56 <dim> ,m
20:56 <fsbot> [4] the site-wide emacs extension directory is 
usually 
             `/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp',
20:56 <fsbot> [5] see autoload

With this new facility, we could say to newbies to just save the
<file>.el in ~/.emacs.d/load.d and do M-x load-user-files, or even M-x
load-new-user-files.  And of course we could bootstrap external scripts
much more easily: if we take el-get as an example, the user would never
have to worry about the load-path any more.  Ever.


Also I think that `user-load-dir' should default to "~/.emacs.d/load.d/".

I have no particular opinion on the autoloading facility that Julien
requires, because it seems to me that as soon as the `user-load-dir' is
there, it's easy to provide for a snippet that allow support for
"~/.emacs.d/autoload.d", whereas I don't see how to go the other route.

Regards,
--
dim