If I would like to keep my emacs settings and packages in another computer or after a format is there a way to avoid having to install all the packages from the beginning?
I don't just mean saving the .emacs
as to have the customizations but also the packages that come with it. I was wondering if I copy and save my elpa file and then paste it in a new PC is there going to be any problem?
Do the packages install files also in other folders of a system, so the aforementioned technique may cause problems, or is this a good way to keep your Emacs always with you?
.elc
files are portable byte code -- you can most definitely copy them from one machine to another, rather than going through the package installation processes. That's not to say it's not possible to get compiled elisp with machine-specific code (e.g. macros are expanded at compile type, and can be written to produce system-specific code at that time), but it's unusual to see that. In most situations, you will be absolutely fine if you simply copy all of the files. – phils Nov 7 '14 at 8:01