Re: Documentation on default.el vs site-start.el

[Kevin Rodgers]

Niels Möller wrote:
> The manual describes "site-start.el" in the section "The Init File,
> `~/.emacs'", like this:
>
>      Your site may also have a "site startup file"; this is named
>   `site-start.el', if it exists.  Like `default.el', Emacs finds this
>   file via the standard search path for Lisp libraries.  Emacs loads this
>   library before it loads your init file.  To inhibit loading of this
>   library, use the option `-no-site-file'.  *Note Initial Options::.
>
> This doesn't explain when one should use default.el and when one
> should use site-start.el. The documentation string for site-run-file
> in startup.el gives the following advice:
>
>   Don't use the `site-start.el' file for things some users may not like.
>   Put them in `default.el' instead, so that users can more easily
>   override them.  Users can prevent loading `default.el' with the `-q'
>   option or by setting `inhibit-default-init' in their own init files,
>   but inhibiting `site-start.el' requires `--no-site-file', which
>   is less convenient.

`C-h v site-run-file' also says that it is customizable, but that
seems pointless: by the time the customization is done (whether in
custom-file, .emacs, or default.el) the default site-run-file has
already been loaded.

--
Kevin Rodgers