Bundling GNU ELPA packages with Emacs - what are we missing?

[Stefan Kangas]

In Bug#39553, we discussed what is missing to bundle packages from GNU
ELPA with Emacs releases (i.e. in the tarball).  It is not clear (to me
at least) what is currently stopping us from doing that.

One thing I noted is that `M-x list-packages U' doesn't mark built-in
packages for upgrading even when there is a newer version available from
GNU ELPA.  Perhaps that's by design?  If not, it just sounds like a bug
to fix.

Which hurdles remain?  What needs doing?

Best regards,
Stefan Kangas

[Stefan Monnier]

> The term "activate" is used many times wrt packages, but is not
> defined anywhere. How are users meant to understand what it means ?

It means to add its files to the `load-path` and run the code indicated
by the autoload cookies (i.e. mostly setup some autoloads, potentially
add itself to some menu, or things like that).

Usually, for major modes it's the only thing necessary for the
major mode to be automatically used on the appropriate files.

Package.el does it in `package-activate-all` (also called by
`package-initialize`, tho it depends on some details, for historical
reasons).


        Stefan