:config of use-package is not working for multiple cursors

Question

I have noticed a weird behaviour with use-package for multiple-cursors when trying to customize insertion of numbers.

I am able to insert numbers on multiple cursors using C-c n using this code

;; Multiple Cursors
(use-package multiple-cursors
  :ensure t
  :bind(("C-S-c C-S-c" . mc/edit-lines)
        ("C-»" . mc/mark-next-like-this)
        ("C-«" . mc/mark-previous-like-this)
        ("C-c C-«" . mc/mark-all-like-this))
  )   
(setq mc/insert-numbers-default 1)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c n") 'mc/insert-numbers)

but this alternative declaration of multiple-cursors does not produce the same effect, i.e., when pressing C-c n there is no keybinding associated and no numbers are inserted on the cursors.

;; Multiple Cursors
(use-package multiple-cursors
  :ensure t
  :bind(("C-S-c C-S-c" . mc/edit-lines)
        ("C-»" . mc/mark-next-like-this)
        ("C-«" . mc/mark-previous-like-this)
        ("C-c C-«" . mc/mark-all-like-this))
  :config
  (setq mc/insert-numbers-default 1)
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c n") 'mc/insert-numbers)
  )   

This is strange since the whole point of :config is to run code after the package is loaded, which is the intended purpose here. It works fine for other packages as far as I can tell. Any thoughts?

Answer 1

If I understand your question, I think the problem is that loading multiple cursors is deferred, and so your :config code doesn't get loaded prior to the first time you use a mc command. The :bind argument exists to deal with this. Try the following:

(use-package multiple-cursors
  :ensure t
  :bind(("C-S-c C-S-c" . mc/edit-lines)
        ("C-»" . mc/mark-next-like-this)
        ("C-«" . mc/mark-previous-like-this)
        ("C-c C-«" . mc/mark-all-like-this)
        ("C-c n" . mc/insert-numbers))
  :config
  (setq mc/insert-numbers-default 1)
  )