RE: Unable to get current or via use-package

["Cook, Malcolm" <MEC@stowers.org>]

Hi Loris,

> > I tend to use the org-mode from the package manager, but do not do it interactively from within emacs. Instead, which when I want to refresh org, I do from the command line:
> >
> > emacs -Q -batch -eval "(progn (require 'package) (package-initialize) (package-refresh-contents) (package-install 'org))"
> 
> Is that necessary? Can't I just use the package manager to update Org
> along with any other packages? Or does the issue about not visiting and
> .org file before installing via the package manager apply to updates
> too?

AFAIK, what is necessary (though for reasons somewhat beyond my ken) is that org updates be installed in an environment in which no version of org has been loaded.  You need some approach to ensure that.  This is one such.  Agreed it is heavy handed, but it suffices the need.  I wish I could express the order dependencies in a reliable fashion with `use-package`.

It *might* be the case that execution of the following snippet early enough in your init file is enough for `use-package` to "get it right"(tm).  If you try this, let us know the outcome.

> > Also, early in my init.el, as extra level of precaution against getting the built-in org-mode, I ensure it never gets loaded:
> > (require 'cl-seq) (delete (car (cl-member "lisp/org" load-path :test #'string-match)) load-path)
> 
> Interesting, although I would generally want at least some version of
> Org even if a more recent version is installed but somehow broken.

If you can code that logic in lisp, you can conditionally execute the provided snipped.

/joke

But I get your point.  In my case, sometimes I want to run with a git pull from head of org repos rather than a package install.  At such times I wind up editing my init file and use the `use-package`'s :load-path and :pin directives:

   :pin manual 
   :load-path "~/.emacs.d/org-mode/lisp"
  ;; which was installed with: `cd ~/emacs.d && git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/emacs/org-mode.git &&   cd org-mode && make autoloads && make` 
  ;; and can be updated with: `cd ~/emacs.d/org-mode && git pull && make autoloads && make`

Point being that I have found that expressing the logic  to cover every use case requires me to edit my init.el and interact with the command line "out of band", as it were.

YMMV

~Malcolm