On Fri, May 16, 2025 at 8:05 AM Eli Zaretskii wrote: > > From: Ship Mints > > Date: Fri, 16 May 2025 06:22:29 -0400 > > Cc: Lynn Winebarger , sbaugh@janestreet.com, > 78304@debbugs.gnu.org > > > > On Fri, May 16, 2025 at 3:12 AM Eli Zaretskii wrote: > > > > Actually, I think everything Spencer wants to do is achievable via > > site-start file, and it's the unnecessary urge to use -q that creates > > the problem he tries to solve. I don't think anything like customized > > dumping is needed to solve this problem. > > > > Perhaps I need more coffee...I just tried (on master): > > > > echo '(defvar BOO "BOO")' > site-start.el > > emacs -L $PWD -q > > > > and ./site-start.el was not loaded. > > It isn't supposed to work. site-start file is looked along load-path, > and the -L switch modifies load-path _after_ Emacs attempts to load > the site-start file. IOW, the -L switch is intended to affect the > Emacs session after startup. > > I said at the beginning of this discussion that the startup process is > delicate and fragile due to its bootstrap-like nature. So messing > with it will frequently surprise too-naïve expectations. I wish > people believed me when I say that. > I appreciate the delicacy of bootstrapping. The documentation for -L doesn't say that it doesn't affect site-start.el. If one specifies EMACSLOADPATH before starting Emacs, that does work to find site-start.el, ignoring whatever system-wide site-start.el exists (which is what I'd want). I expected the behavior of -L and EMACSLOADPATH to be in sync.