2 The XEmacs Packaging System

The XEmacs distribution, starting with version 21, comes only with a very basic set of built-in modes and libraries. Most of the libraries that were part of the distribution of earlier versions of XEmacs are now available separately. The user as well as the system administrator can choose which packages to install; the actual installation process is easy. This gives an installer the ability to tailor an XEmacs installation for local needs with safe removal of unnecessary code.

This chapter describes how to package Lisp libraries for use with the XEmacs Packaging System.

Please note carefully that the term package as used in XEmacs refers to an aggregation of Lisp code and/or data distributed as a unit. It does not, as it does in many Lisps, refer to a way of creating separate name spaces. XEmacs has no facility for providing separate name spaces. (If we ever do get separate name spaces, we’ll probably regret overloading the nomenclature in this way, but it’s become established.)

Introduction:

Packaging Lisp Libraries:

Internals and Package Release Engineering: