Subject: bug#15523: 24.3.50; Package installed in an earlier (stable) version of Emacs errors if -autoloads.el calls an autoloaded function

From: Dmitry Gutov <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 05:01:15 +0300

...from that package.

Example:
https://github.com/nonsequitur/inf-ruby/pull/24#issuecomment-25595099

Or at least that's what I've been able to deduce.

Revision 112403 added load-path modification inside the autoloads file
(not sure why), and 114047 changed `package-activate-1' not to modify
load-path until after the autoloads file is loaded.

So, if a package was installed using Emacs predating 112403 (such as
24.2 and probably 24.3), and its autoloads call a function from it, it
will raise an error.

Not sure how big of a problem that is (autoloads' main purpose is to
defer loading, not to trigger it), but it's surprising for sure.