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From: ram-ashwin@YALE.ARPA.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: Re: autoloading [+ Proposal for new load function]
Message-ID: <8710291745.AA22556@ATHENA.CS.YALE.EDU>
Date: Thu, 29-Oct-87 12:45:01 EST
Article-I.D.: ATHENA.8710291745.AA22556
Posted: Thu Oct 29 12:45:01 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 31-Oct-87 17:28:10 EST
Sender: daemon@eddie.MIT.EDU
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>    From: grover%potomac.UUCP@YALE.ARPA (Mark D. Grover)
>    Date: 27 Oct 87 14:51:24 GMT
> 
>    I have extra stuff (modified definitions) that I want to load after
>    the normal autoloading of the rmail system.  How do I do this?

I usually write my own rmail.el file that loads the standard rmail file and
then redefines whatever I need.

This raises a question that I've had for a while -- what is the "standard"
way of customizing Emacs packages?  Should one write one's own file for each
package that needs to be customized (as with the rmail case above)?  If so,
maybe there should be an Emacs function "load-default" or "load-standard" or
something would load the standard version of the package (otherwise identical
to load).  For example, it would be nice to do the following:

        (load-default "rmail" nil t)
        ...my own stuff...

load-default would load the file from wherever it would come from if your
file hadn't been there, by looking down your load-path.  This saves you the
trouble of worrying about where the package really comes from (lisp, local,
elsewhere?) and also makes customization easier (independent of load-path and
installation-dependent pathnames).

I have a kludgy version of this function but I'm sure someone can do a better
job.  Or does anyone have a better way of doing customizations?  

-- Ashwin Ram --

ARPA:    Ram-Ashwin@cs.yale.edu
UUCP:    {decvax,linus,seismo}!yale!Ram-Ashwin
BITNET:  Ram@yalecs