Subject: Re: bug#2061: 23.0.60; Add preference to force load of Elisp files when they are newer than corresponding byte-compiled file

From: Juanma Barranquero <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:45:50 +0100

On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 03:19, Brent Goodrick <[email-masked]> wrote:

> When would the user ever prefer to load the .elc file after having
> modified the .el file?

Whenever he saves the .el file, but the modifications aren't finished
(perhaps they don't even compile).

In general, if Emacs loads the .el file when it is newer, you lose the
ability to decide whether you want the .el or the .elc. If Emacs
always loads the .elc (if present), you can decide you want the new
code loaded, by compiling the .el.

> I could hack around this by fset'ing `load' to be my own function that
> removes the .elc file when the .el file is found to be newer, but that
> is an expensive operation involving calling such functions such as
> locate-file-internal to find both .el and .elc files, testing their
> modification date-time stamps, etc., operations that the `load' C
> function performs already.

Isn't easier just to compile the .el file? If you're developing or
modifying a package, and want to try it at once, create a macro to
compile it as soon as you save it...

    Juanma