Re: The Org Package

[John Hendy <jw.hendy@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Apr 11, 2014 at 9:32 PM, David Masterson <dsmasterson@gmail.com> wrote:
> I still need more understanding of the Emacs packaging system.
> Something doesn't seem right and I'm sure I'm missing some key in
> understanding how its supposed to work.  What I see right now seems like
> something doesn't match up -- particularly with the Org package:
>
> 1. Most modern Emacs have Org pre-installed.
> 2. Unfortunately, that Org is not up-to-date (24.3 has 7.9.3f).
> 3. Therefore, installing the latest Org package seems natural.
> 4. However, this does not uninstall the built-in Org package.
> 5. Packages are not initialized until after .emacs is run.
> 6. Therefore, any of the latest variables are not defined yet.
> 7. Therefore, setting a hook may not do what you think.
> 8. The documentation for Org suggests hooks (etc.) to set.
> 9. I've run into times when org-version was still 7.9.3f.
>
> Do you see where I'm heading?  Does anyone else run into this problem?
> Or do most people ignore the Org package and install the latest from
> GitHub in a more manual process (a la Bernt Hansen's paper)?  Do we need
> more concrete documentation on setting up the Org Package?

I learned emacs /for/ Org-mode, so keep that in mind as I'm pretty
ignorant of emacs in genera. I *think* that packages for emacs are
sort of a recent thing, and since I was already using git, I've never
bothered to switch my setup. I find git ridiculously easy and have
never had a reason to do anything else.

Once ever:

#+begin_src sh
mkdir ~/.elisp/
cd ~/.elisp
git clone [orgmode git path] org.git  # I like adding the .git so I
know it's a git repo
cd org.git
make clean && make
#+end_src


Then put in config:

#+begin_src .emacs
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.elisp/org.git/lisp/")
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.elisp/org.git/contrib/lisp")
#+end_src

That's it. Anywhere between once a week and once every three months, I do:

#+begin_src sh
cd ~/.elisp/org.git
git pull
make clean && make
#+end_src

Is this more difficult than packages? What is the advantage of ELPA
vs. this? I could see it if I had a lot of these sorts of things, but
I really just use Org + ESS, so I'm not constantly
updating/installing/removing emacs add-ons other than those two.


John

>
> --
> David Masterson
>
>