[Please, keep debian-emacsen in Cc, not only debian-devel. Better yet, I suggest we sort this thread out on debian-emacsen and report to debian-devel afterwards.] >>>>> "MS" == Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> writes: DGMS> They are no meant to serve any other purpose, are one-liner, and also DGMS> aren't meant to be directly edited by the user MS> Wrong. If they are in /etc/, they are meant to be editable. I MS> often edit them to use cvs versions instead (which I store MS> _elsewhere) [...] Maybe I wasn't clear enough, or maybe I still miss some bit. Please, help me to sort out what I need to do to achieve the best. To fix ideas, let's talk about auctex (mailcrypt behaves the same way, for similar reasons). AUC TeX is a major mode that shades quite a bit the standard Emacs tex-mode. If AUC TeX is loaded, when you open a TeX file you get AUC TeX keybindings, rather than the standard tex-mode keybindings (you also get other non standard AUC TeX behavior, of course). On a multi user system, this is potentially confusing for those Emacs users that don't know what AUC TeX is and don't want to use it. It is therefore conceivable that a system administrator may want to have an option to decide if she wants to enable AUC TeX for all her users, or leave to each of them instead to decide if they want to enable it by themselves. As the Debian auctex package maintainer, it is one of my goals to offer the sysadmin this choice. At this moment the Debian auctex package achieves this goal by asking the system administrator, via debconf, what she wants to do. If she choose to enable AUC TeX by default, auctex creates a 50auctex.el in /etc/emacs/site-start.d/ with the magic spell "(require 'tex-site)". If she choose not to enable AUC TeX by default, auctex doesn't create that file, and tells the sysadmin to tell her AUC TeX wanting users to "(require 'tex-site)" by themselves in their "~/.emacs", while others non AUC-TeX accustomed users need do nothing to preserve their virgin Emacs. I want to make it clear that auctex doesn't do anything to the load-path until you "(require 'tex-site)", either manually or via the _optional_ "50auctex.el", which _might_ be created, at _your_ request. DGMS> (however, if she actually does it, the packages feature a DGMS> minimal attempt to preserve her wishes). They are where they DGMS> are 'cause the Debian Emacs policy requires them to be there. MS> For a reason. This allows me to use CVS versions on some MS> machine/user combinations, and Debian versions on others. The Debian auctex package doesn't step on you toes if you want to act this way. With the current auctex settings, you should probably add the right load-path in the right position yourself, for example using /etc/emacs/site-start.el (which is at the complete sysadmin disposal), and answer to that auctex debconf question as you wish (interesting combination of the right load path and yes/no are possible, depending on what version of AUC TeX, if any, should be the default at you site; I don't think I need to explain anything further here). DGMS> Maybe there is something I overlooked, like some other place outside DGMS> /etc/ where I could put them while keeping Emacs reading them on DGMS> startup? MS> That should be a major reduction in functionality, and I would MS> be inclined to call it a bug. I don't understand why: I'm not imposing on the sysadmin those files. I just ask here if she wants to autoload AUC TeX by default and trust here answer. As I understand it, I need a place where I can put an autoloaded "(require 'tex-site)" if the user wants me to do it. I don't need a conffile. However, it might well be possible that I'm overlooking something, so I'd be grateful if someone helps me to figure more policy correct ways to achieve the goals stated above. DGMS> P.S.: Keep your fingers cool while answering, please. ;-) MS> I tried. Appreciated. ;-) -- Salve, | GNU PG (GPG) Key ID: 939686D5 Davide | <http://www.linux.it/~salve/>
Attachment:
pgpmEtx8aUAfM.pgp
Description: PGP signature