Do I have to rename my org-mode load-path folder after every update?

Question

I use package manager to update my packages automatically by doing package-list-packages, package-menu-mark-upgrades, package-menu-execute. (I assume this is the easiest way to automatically update all my packages, though I don't really know.)

When I do this, org-mode winds up in a directory with a path like this:

~/Dropbox/emacs/prelude/elpa/org-20150511/

I use packages that are part of contrib, so my .emacs includes these lines:

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/Dropbox/emacs/prelude/elpa/org-20150511/lisp" load-path)  
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/Dropbox/emacs/prelude/elpa/org-20150511/contrib" load-path)
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/Dropbox/emacs/prelude/elpa/org-20150511/contrib/lisp" load-path)

Since the org directory is named according to the date of the release, this means I have to either: 1. edit the directory name in the load paths 2. rename the org folder

Is there a way to get org-mode to find the contrib directories automatically when I upgrade org?

Answer 1

This solution is specific to how to add the org contrib packages to the load path.

You can add orgmode.org/elpa/ to package-archives as per the instructions here and install org-plus-contrib using the package manager. That will install the regular org files plus the contrib content in a flat folder hierarchy.

The installation instructions from the reference link are repeated here for convenience:

Add this to your Emacs init file to be able to list the Org mode archives:

(require 'package)

(add-to-list 'package-archives '("org" . "http://orgmode.org/elpa/") t)

Then M-x list-packages RET will list both the latest org and org-plus-contrib packages.

org contains the same set of files that are included in GNU Emacs. org-plus-contrib contains these files plus all contribs files, the ones you find in contrib/ from the git repo.

Answer 2

This is a hacky answer but it works (add the code to your .emacs file):

;; First, define a variable to hold the directory name. It will always
;; be updated whenever there's a new Org version.
;; The important part is this function:
;; (file-name-completion "org-20" "~/Dropbox/emacs/prelude/elpa/")
;; returns:
;; "org-20150511/"
;; or in the future:
;; "org-20250314/"
;; etc.

(setq my-org-from-elpa-dir (expand-file-name (file-name-completion "org-20" "~/Dropbox/emacs/prelude/elpa/") "~/Dropbox/emacs/prelude/elpa/")

;; Finally, add the directories to load-path.
;; (concat my-org-from-elpa-dir "lisp/")
;; returns:
;; "/home/YOU/Dropbox/emacs/prelude/elpa/org-20150511/lisp/"
;; and so on.

(add-to-list 'load-path (concat my-org-from-elpa-dir "lisp/"))
(add-to-list 'load-path (concat my-org-from-elpa-dir "contrib/"))
(add-to-list 'load-path (concat my-org-from-elpa-dir "contrib/lisp/"))

Caveats:

This code will be evaluated only at startup so you'll have to restart Emacs after you've upgraded your packages. Or else run eval-buffer. Or define a command based on this answer.

In the year 3000 you'll have to change "org-20" for "org-30".