Re: Package initialization

[Stefan Monnier]

> Before the package stuff everybody had this in .emacs:

> (require 'slime-autoloads)
> (slime-setup)

> Now with the package stuff the (require 'slime-autoloads) line is
> unnecessary.  But additionally somebody claimed that it's idiomatic to
> call slime-setup automatically in slime-autoloads.

> I quite like to see the explicit call to slime-setup in my .emacs, but
> others might not.

Since it's a configuration choice, it should not be imposed by the
autoloads file.  Instead, the way this is normally handled is by making
a slime-minor-mode, which when enabled does something like
(slime-setup), and when disabled, undoes it.

The important aspect is that it should be possible to install a package
without using it, so the autoloads file should only set things up so
that they *can* be used, but not so that they're automatically used
without being explicitly requested.


        Stefan