reading compile.el, modifying settings

[Paul Graham]

Dear emacs experts,

I use compile mode, but I have my own set of compiler 
message regexps.  I try to set them up as follows:

.emacs:

    (load "compile")
    (load-file "~/emacs/compile-settings.el")

compile-settings.el:

    (setq compilation-error-regexp-alist ... )

However, when I compile in emacs, I end up with the
default compiler message regexps.  I then have to
manually eval the load of compile-settings.el to 
get my settings.

I think that when emacs starts up, it picks up my 
setting for compilation-error-regexp-alist, but does 
not immediately load compile.elc.  Then when I do my 
first compile, it loads compile.elc, and overwrites
my settings.

I thought that I could change my .emacs to explicitly 
load compile.elc, but this is not so easy.  The 'load'
function doesn't require an exact path, which makes it 
convenient to use -- it keeps working even when I switch
to a newer version of emacs.  If I use load-file instead,
then I have to give the full path to compile.el or
compile.elc, that is, I would have to duplicate all the
friendly logic in 'load'.

Any suggestions?

Paul