Re: [AUCTeX] how to use the git repository to obtain the latest aucTeX?

[David Kastrup]

Tassilo Horn <address@hidden> writes:

> David Kastrup <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> At any rate: while there was a wagonload of work invested in that
>> area, it would appear that some of that meets the label "too clever".
>
> Seems so, especially wrt the single-user install.  AUCTeX is the only
> elisp package I know that you can't just unpack/clone, optionally
> configure & make and then add that directory to load-path and be done.

Huh?  How are any other package's info files going to end up compiled
and placed within the Emacs info tree?

> Nevertheless, it works fine for me, and is less hassle than the
> documented way.  I wonder if it would make sense to document that
> instead of the current advice for user-installs in the docs.

No.  It never makes sense in the long run to document how to work around
the design of software.

If you ever feel the urge to do that, resist it.  Change the design
instead.

Part of the complications are that the build system is essentially
inherited from preview-latex.  preview-latex needed to detect a working
installation of AUCTeX, a working installation of Emacs or XEmacs, a
working installation of LaTeX, and then design a way to work itself into
it.

When preview-latex and AUCTeX were consolidated into a single package,
this was done with minimal effort, and part of the reason this was done
with minimal effort was that moving a file in CVS is a nightmare.  But
that also means that the directory structure of the installed AUCTeX and
that of the repository diverged.

-- 
David Kastrup