Re: Relax reading package information for forward compatibility

[Chong Yidong]

Daniel Hackney <address@hidden> writes:

> Right now, `package-tar-file-info' calls `package-read-from-string',
> which errors out if it does not read the entire string. I think this
> should be relaxed so that future versions of "package.el" can define
> alternative package description formats without breaking compatibility
> with current "package.el" installations. I don't see what the reason is
> for being this strict about file contents, especially since it will
> break on any files with local variables defined in the footer of the
> file.
>
> I propose changing the definition of `package-read-from-string' to:
>
>     (defun package-read-from-string (str)
>       "Read a Lisp expression from STR.
>     Signal an error if the entire string was not used."
>       (car (read-from-string str)))

The define-package function already accepts &rest arguments, currently
unused, for that purpose.