> Cc: address@hidden
> From: Dmitry Gutov <address@hidden>
> Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 04:35:48 +0300
>
> > Does this mean users who download this "shiny Emacs" will be unable to
> > upgrade to a newer version?
>
> The pre-configuration could contain just one line:
>
> (require 'shiny-settings)
>
> where shiny-settings.el is distributed with Emacs and is updated
> together with new releases.
So we expect users not to customize their Emacs, as long as they use
the "shiny Emacs"? What are the chances of that to work?
Spacemacs, Doom, and Prelude (to name just three of the more popular options) all make this work out-of-tree, so it certainly seems possible. From my reading, the first two (at least) are strongly expected to be customized after installation, and to have those customizations survive updates of the "kit".
Spacemacs in particular adds a "layer" concept to emacs customization so that bundles of related options/code/packages/config can be turned on or off as a group. Details can be found at:
https://www.spacemacs.org/doc/LAYERS.html. I would personally hope that we could streamline this process, which seems pretty bulky from the outside. Maybe inviting the Spacemacs people to share their experience that led to creating their layers system would be helpful to us both. (I would have CC'd them onthis message, but their team seems to be heavily based around github (pull requests, gitter sharing, etc.), so it's not obvious to me whom to contact. I can look into finding a contact if people think it's worthwhile.
~Chad