Subject: bug#70402: 29.3; Error in "(emacs)Package Installation" description.

From: tpeplt <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2024 11:16:54 -0400

Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]> writes:

>> From: tpeplt <[email-masked]>
>> Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2024 15:03:25 -0400
>> 
>> 
>> The final sentence in this paragraph says that
>> ‘package-enable-at-startup’ cannot be set via Customize, but it is
>> possible in Emacs 29.3 to set that variable via Customize.  Type the
>> following:
>> 
>> M-x customize-option RET
>> Customize variable: package-enable-at-startup RET
>> 
>> After this sequence, the buffer "*Customize Option: Package Enable At
>> Startup*" is displayed, which according to the Emacs user manual should
>> not be possible.

>
> I think you misunderstand what the manual attempts to convey: that
> customizing this variable will not have the desired effect, because it
> must be set before reading the init file.

If I understand you correctly, then there are two reasons, rather than
one, for why the variable ‘package-enable-at-startup’ should not be an
(customizable) option:

1. Because the Emacs user manual says that it cannot be set (it can).

2. Because setting the variable via ‘customize-option’ has no effect (it
happens too late in the initialization sequence?).

If the user manual says that "something" cannot be done and doing so
anyway would have no effect, then it should not be possible to do that
"something."

-- 
The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.
- Geoffrey Chaucer, The Parliament of Birds.