Re: Bug#193439: emacsen-common: debian-emacs-policy and package setup in conffile

[kai.grossjohann@gmx.net (Kai Großjohann)]

Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> writes:

> 	In the new directory proposed, one can put autolodas etc in a
>  non-configuration file that is loaded at startup
>   Pros: 
>   a) This file is gone when the package is removed, so no file
>      existence check is required
>   b) Simple variable settings can be in the configuration file, and
>      they shall not harm anything if the file remains after removing
>      the package [Not strictly true, since there could be two
>      competing packages that set the same variable, or reset a variable
>      also used by upstream emacs -- I do not think simple variable
>      setting are quite as innocent as this]
>   
>   Cons:
>    a) This requires changes in the emacsen common infrastructure
>    b) For anything other than autoloads, you probably still need
>       something similar ot the current mechanism anyway -- setting the
>       load-path, setting some variables that are not private to the
>       package, creating derived modes, etc.

The non-config file to be loaded at startup contains autoload
statements, so the config file can use fboundp instead of the file
existence test to see if the package in question is installed.

So the new suggestion is not as clean as I would like it to be, but
it is not as bad as you say.

OTOH, the current solution is not as bad as I said -- it would be
quite possible for all lisp packages to make sure that they work
right with the current solution.
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