Subject: bug#14967: 24.3.50; package-delete deletes by trashing?

From: Sebastian Wiesner <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 16:40:26 +0200

2013/7/30 Stefan Monnier <[email-masked]>:
>> Well, obviously I consider this behavior a bug.  Trash is no place for
>> deleted packages.  I mean, does apt-get remove use the Trash?!
>
> I think the reasoning goes as follows:
> Emacs uses "trash" when deleting a file upon the user's request (as
> opposed to things like temp files used internally).

Emacs doesn't delete “files” here, it deletes “packages”.  Yes,
packages are just a bunch of files in the end, but conceptually a
package is not just a plain bunch of files.  It is a complex opaque
data structure providing Emacs Lisp code, with some complex
management/activation logic behind.

For this reason, a package can't be treated as a plain directory with
files.  For instance, restoring a package from trash doesn't restore
the package for any running Emacs session, simply because "package.el"
doesn't know about it.

Also, "package-delete" may be called in situations other than an
explicit user request.