use-package User Manual

The use-package macro allows you to set up package customization in your init file in a declarative way. It takes care of many things for you that would otherwise require a lot of repetitive boilerplate code. It can help with common customization, such as binding keys, setting up hooks, customizing user options and faces, autoloading, and more. It also helps you keep Emacs startup fast, even when you use many (even hundreds) of packages.

Note that use-package is not a package manager. Although use-package does have the useful capability to interface with the Emacs package manager, its primary purpose is help with the configuration and loading of packages, not with managing their download, upgrades, and installation.

This manual is for use-package 2.4.5 as distributed with Emacs 29.1.90.

Copyright © 2022–2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover Texts being “A GNU Manual”, and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.

(a) The FSF’s Back-Cover Text is: “You have the freedom to copy and modify this GNU manual.”

Table of Contents

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1 Basic Concepts

use-package provides the use-package macro, that simplifies the customization and use of packages in Emacs. It was created for a few basic reasons, each of which drove the design. Understanding these reasons may help make some of those decisions clearer:

  1. Allow gathering all the configuration details of a package into one place, making it easier to copy, disable, or move it elsewhere in the init file.
  2. Reduce duplication and repetitive boilerplate, capturing several common practices as mere keywords both easy and intuitive to use.
  3. Make startup time of Emacs as short as possible, without sacrificing the quantity of add-on packages used.
  4. Ensure that errors encountered during startup disable only the package(s) raising the error(s), and as little else as possible, leaving Emacs as close to fully functional as possible.
  5. Allow byte-compiling your init file, so that any warnings or errors you see at startup are meaningful. In this way, even if byte-compilation is not used for speed (see item 3 above), it can still be used as a sanity check.

It is worth noting that use-package is not intended to replace the standard customization command M-x customize (see Easy Customization in GNU Emacs Manual). On the contrary, it is designed to work together with it, for things that Customize cannot do.

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2 Getting Started

This chapter provides instructions and examples for quickly getting started with use-package. In this manual, we say that each call to the use-package macro in your init file is a declaration, to highlight the declarative nature of its syntax.

To unconditionally load a package named ‘foo’, add the following declaration to your init file: 

(use-package foo)

This declaration is equivalent to using require (see Named Features in GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual), with some use-package specific error handling added in. Just like require, it needs the package ‘foo’ to be installed and available via your load-path (see Installing packages automatically).

To evaluate some Lisp before the ‘foo’ package is loaded, use the :init keyword: 

(use-package foo
  :init
  (setq foo-variable t))

Similarly, :config can be used to execute code after a package is loaded. In cases where loading is done lazily (see Loading Packages), this execution is deferred until after the loading actually occurs. As you might expect, you can use :init and :config together: 

(use-package foo
  :init
  (setq foo-variable t)
  :config
  (foo-mode 1))

The above declarations will load the ‘foo’ package immediately. In most cases, this is not necessary or desirable, as that will slow down Emacs startup. Instead, you should try to set things up so that packages are only loaded when they are actually needed (a.k.a. “autoloading”). If you have installed a package from GNU ELPA that provides it’s own autoloads, it is often enough to say: 

(use-package foo
  :defer t)

This will avoid loading the package. Now, when you run any autoloaded command, the package ‘foo’ is loaded automatically. (Which commands from a package are marked to auto-load by default is the decision of the package authors.)

In some cases, you might need or want to provide your own autoloads. The more complex example below autoloads the commands isearch-moccur and isearch-all from the package color-moccur.el, and binds keys both globally and in isearch-mode-map. When one of these two commands are used, the package will be loaded. At that point, moccur-edit is also loaded, to allow editing of the moccur buffer. 

(use-package color-moccur
  :commands (isearch-moccur isearch-all)
  :bind (("M-s O" . moccur)
         :map isearch-mode-map
         ("M-o" . isearch-moccur)
         ("M-O" . isearch-moccur-all))
  :init
  (setq isearch-lazy-highlight t)
  :config
  (use-package moccur-edit))

Some packages will suggest ready-made use-package declarations that you can use. Where possible, it is a good idea to copy them, and use that as a starting point.

That should be enough to get you started!

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3 Loading Packages

Before use-package can load an Emacs Lisp package, it must be available in a directory on your load-path. When you install packages using the built-in install-package command, it will do this automatically for you. Packages shipped with Emacs (built-in packages) are always available.

Some packages have more than one library. In those cases, you might need more than one use-package declaration to make sure the package is properly loaded. For complex configurations, you might also need more than one declaration for a package with the same name.

use-package can interface with ‘package.el’ to install packages on Emacs start. See Installing packages automatically, for details.

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3.1 How and when use-package loads packages

The call to the use-package macro will load a package either immediately, or when the package is first used (via autoloading). In the simplest case, a use-package declaration loads a package when it is evaluated.1 If the declaration is in your init file, this happens automatically each time Emacs is started.

For example, the declaration below immediately loads the library foo, just like require would: 

(use-package foo)

If the library ‘foo’ is not available in your load-path, the declaration logs a warning to the ‘*Messages*’ buffer.

Note that a “package” is different from an Emacs Lisp “library”. The above declaration tells use-package to load the library foo.el, which in the overwhelming majority of cases also resides in a package named foo. But the package foo might also contain a library named foo-extra.el. If that library is not loaded automatically, you will need a separate use-package declaration to make sure that it is loaded when needed. This manual will often use the terms “package” and “library” interchangeably, as this distinction does not usually matter, but you should keep it in mind for the cases when it does.

The details of how and when you should load a package might differ from one package to another. When in doubt, refer to the package documentation for details.

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3.2 Deferring package loading

In the examples we have seen so far, use-package loads packages every time you start Emacs, even if that package is never used. That will make starting Emacs slower. use-package therefore allows setting things up in such a way that packages are only loaded when some of the package’s commands is first used (either with M-x or via some key binding). This is based on autoloading, a full description of which is outside the scope of this manual. See Autoload in GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, for the full story.

Some use-package keywords provide autoload triggers that cause a package to be loaded when certain events occur. For example, the :hook keyword sets up a trigger that fires when the specified hook is run, and then loads the package automatically. The other trigger keywords, all of which are described later in this manual, are :commands, :bind, :bind*, :bind-keymap, :bind-keymap*, :mode, and :interpreter.

The :defer keyword

If you did not specify any autoloading keyword, use-package will fall back to loading the package immediately (typically when Emacs is starting up). This can be overridden using the :defer keyword. It takes one boolean argument: a non-nil value means to stop this package from being immediately loaded. Here is an example of using :defer to postpone loading the package ‘foo’: 

(use-package foo
  :defer t)

Using :defer t by itself like this is rarely useful. Typically, you would only use it together with a keyword like :config (see Using Lisp code for configuring packages), or :ensure (see Installing packages automatically).

Defer loading until idle for N seconds

You can also give a numeric argument n to :defer to specify that a package should be loaded (if it hasn’t already) after Emacs has been idle for n seconds. For example, use the following to make use-package load ‘foo’ after 30 seconds of idle time: 

(use-package foo
  :defer 30)

When to use :defer

When using autoloading keywords, there is no need to also use :defer. It doesn’t hurt to add it in this case, perhaps for extra clarity, but it is redundant.

You should use :defer to force deferred loading, in cases when use-package isn’t creating any autoloads for you. For example, you might know that some other package will already do something to cause your package to load at the appropriate time. This is usually the case when you install a package using package-install, as packages installed in this way normally always have their own autoloads already set up.

Making :defer t the default

If you customize the user option use-package-always-defer to non-nil, the use-package macro will behave as if :defer t is always specified. This can be overridden for individual declarations using either :defer nil or :demand t (see Forcing package to load immediately).

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3.3 Forcing package to load immediately

The presence of autoloading trigger keywords can be overridden using :demand t, which forces the package to load immediately. Thus, even if you use an autoloading keyword such as :bind (see Key bindings), adding :demand will force loading to occur immediately. It will also avoid creating an autoload for the bound key, as it would be redundant.

If you specify both :demand t and :defer t, the :defer keyword will take precedence.

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3.4 Loading packages conditionally

The :if, :when, and :unless keywords predicates the loading and initialization of packages. They all accept one argument, an Emacs Lisp form that is evaluated at run-time.

If the argument of the :if keyword evaluates to non-nil, the package will be loaded and initialized. The :when keyword is provided as an alias for :if. Finally, the :unless keyword is the inverse of :if, such that :unless foo means the same thing as :if (not foo).

For example, if you only want to load ‘foo’ in graphical Emacs sessions, you could use the following: 

(use-package foo
  :if (display-graphic-p))

Some common use cases

Here are some common cases for conditional loading, and how to achieve them.

  • Operating system

    The following example loads a package only on GNU/Linux. See the docstring of system-type for other valid values. 

    :if (eq system-type 'gnu/linux)
  • Window system

    The example below loads a package only on macOS and X. See the docstring of window-system for valid values. 

    :if (memq window-system '(ns x))
  • Installed package

    The following example loads a package only when the ‘foo’ package is installed. 

    :if (package-installed-p 'foo)
  • Libraries in load-path

    The example below loads a package only when foo.el is available in your load-path (for example, if you installed that file manually): 

    :if (locate-library "foo.el")

Making conditional loading affect :preface and :ensure

If you need to make a use-package form conditional so that the condition occurs before even :ensure (see Installing package) or :preface (see :preface is evaluated first), use when around the use-package form itself. For example: 

(when (memq window-system '(mac ns))
  (use-package foo
    :ensure t))

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3.5 Loading packages in sequence

Sometimes it only makes sense to configure a package after another one has been loaded, because certain variables or functions are not in scope until that time. This can be achieved with the :after keyword, which allows a fairly rich description of the exact conditions when loading should occur. The :after keyword takes as argument either a symbol indicating the package name, a list of such symbols, or a list of selectors (see below).

Here is an example of using the GNU ELPA packages hydra, ivy, and ivy-hydra. Note that ivy-hydra will always be loaded last: 

(use-package hydra)

(use-package ivy)


(use-package ivy-hydra
  :after (ivy hydra))

In this case, because the declarations are evaluated in the order they occur, the use of :after is not strictly necessary. However, if ‘hydra’ and ‘ivy’ were to be autoloaded, using :after guarantees that ‘ivy-hydra’ is not loaded until it is actually needed. By using :after, the above code will also work even if the order of the declaration changes. This means that moving things around in your init file is less likely to break things.

Using :after selectors

The :after keyword also accepts a list of selectors. By default, :after (foo bar) is the same as :after (:all foo bar), meaning that loading of the given package will not happen until both foo and bar have been loaded. Here are some of the other possibilities: 

:after (foo bar)
:after (:all foo bar)
:after (:any foo bar)
:after (:all (:any foo bar) (:any baz quux))
:after (:any (:all foo bar) (:all baz quux))

When you nest selectors, such as in (:any (:all foo bar) (:all baz quux)), it means that the package will be loaded when either both foo and bar have been loaded, or when both baz and quux have been loaded.

Pay attention when setting use-package-always-defer to a non-nil value, and also using the :after keyword. In that case, you will need to specify how the declared package is to be loaded: for example, by some :bind (see Global keybindings). If you are not using one of the keywords that registers autoloads, such as :bind or :hook (see Hooks), and your package manager does not provide autoloads, it is possible that your package will never be loaded if you do not add :demand t to those declarations.

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3.6 Prevent loading if dependencies are missing

While the :after keyword delays loading until the dependencies are loaded, the somewhat simpler :requires keyword never loads the package if the dependencies are not available when the use-package declaration is evaluated. In this context, “available” means that foo is available if (featurep 'foo) evaluates to a non-nil value. For example: 

(use-package abbrev
  :requires foo)

This is the same as: 

(use-package abbrev
  :if (featurep 'foo))

As a convenience, a list of such packages may be specified: 

(use-package abbrev
  :requires (foo bar baz))

For more complex logic, such as that supported by :after, simply use :if and the appropriate Lisp expression.

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3.7 Manually installed package

When installing packages manually, without Emacs’ built-in package manager (package.el), it will obviously not help you set up autoloads or add it to your load-path. You must do it yourself. However, use-package makes this more convenient.

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3.7.1 Setting a custom load-path

When installing packages manually, you must make sure its libraries are available on your load-path. See Lisp Libraries in GNU Emacs Manual, for more details about package loading.

The :load-path keyword provides a convenient way to add directories to your load path. It takes as argument a symbol, a function, a string or a list of strings. If a directory is specified as a relative file name, it is expanded relative to user-emacs-directory.

For example: 

(use-package org
  :load-path "site-lisp/org/lisp/"
  :commands org-mode)

When using a symbol or a function to provide a dynamically generated list of directories, you must inform the byte-compiler of this definition, so that the value is available at byte-compilation time. This is done by using the special form eval-and-compile (as opposed to eval-when-compile, see Eval During Compile in GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual). Furthermore, this value is fixed to the value it had during compilation. If the operation is costly, you do not have to repeat it again on each startup. For example: 

(eval-and-compile
  (defun ess-site-load-path ()
    (shell-command-to-string "find ~ -path ess/lisp")))



(use-package ess-site
  :load-path (lambda () (list (ess-site-load-path)))
  :commands R)

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3.7.2 Setting up autoloads manually

Packages often document how to set up its autoloads when it is being manually installed. If it does, follow those instructions. Otherwise, you might want to set them up manually.

To autoload an interactive command, use the :commands keyword, which takes either a symbol or a list of symbols as its argument. It creates autoloads for those commands (which defers loading of the module until those commands are used).

The :autoload keyword takes the same arguments as :commands, but is used to autoload non-interactive functions. Here is an example: 

(use-package org-crypt
  :autoload org-crypt-use-before-save-magic)

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4 Configuring Packages

This chapter describes the various keywords provided by use-package that help you configure packages.

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4.1 Using Lisp code for configuring packages

The most general way to add customizations are the :preface, :init, and :config keywords. They all accept one or more Emacs Lisp forms, up to the next keyword, that are evaluated in order. This lets you add arbitrary Lisp code to your use-package declarations.

The only difference between these keywords is when they are evaluated.

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4.1.1 :preface is evaluated first

The :preface section is evaluated before anything else, except :disabled and :ensure. It can be used to establish function and variable definitions that will:

  1. Make the byte-compiler happy: it will not complain about functions whose definitions are unknown.
  2. Define functions and variables that will be used in an :if test.

Note that whatever is specified within :preface is evaluated both at load time and at byte-compilation time, in order to ensure that definitions are seen by both the Lisp evaluator and the byte-compiler. Therefore, you should avoid having any side-effects in your :preface forms, and restrict them to symbol declarations and definitions.

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4.1.2 :init is evaluated before loading package

The :init section is evaluated just before the package is loaded. Note that the :init form is run unconditionally – even if the package happens to not exist on your system. You must therefore remember to restrict :init code to what would succeed either way; put the rest in the :config section. :init also always happens before package load, whether :config has been deferred or not.

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4.1.3 :config is evaluated after loading package

The :config section is evaluated after the package has been loaded. If the package is loaded immediately, this happens immediately after that, but if loading is done lazily (see Loading Packages), this is deferred until after the package has been loaded.

In general, you should keep :init forms as simple and quick as possible, and put as much as you can get away with into the :config section. That way, deferred loading can help your Emacs start as quickly as possible.

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4.1.4 When to use :preface, :config and :init?

Where possible, it is better to avoid :preface, :config and :init. Instead, prefer autoloading keywords such as :bind (see Key bindings), :hook (see Hooks), and :mode (see Modes and interpreters), as they will take care of setting up autoloads for you without any need for boilerplate code. For example, consider the following declaration: 

(use-package foo
  :init
  (add-hook 'some-hook 'foo-mode))

This has two problems. First, it will unconditionally load the package ‘foo’ on startup, which will make things slower. You can fix this by adding :defer t: 

(use-package foo
  :defer t
  :init
  (add-hook 'some-hook 'foo-mode))

This is better, as ‘foo’ is now only loaded when it is actually needed (that is, when the hook ‘some-hook’ is run).

The second problem is that there is a lot of boilerplate that you have to write. In this case, it might not be so bad, but avoiding that was what use-package was made to allow. The better option in this case is therefore to use :hook (see Hooks), which also implies :defer t. The above is thereby reduced down to: 

(use-package foo
  :hook some-hook)

Now use-package will set up autoloading for you, and your Emacs startup time will not suffer one bit.

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4.2 Key bindings

One common thing to do when loading a package is to bind keys to commands within that module. Without use-package, this would be done using a combination of keymap-local-set, keymap-global-set and various autoloads. With use-package, you can simplify this using the :bind keyword, as described in this section.

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4.2.1 Global keybindings

To bind keys globally, the :bind keyword takes as its argument either a single cons or a list of conses. Each cons has the form (key . command), where key is a string indicating the key to bind, and command is the name of a command (a symbol). The syntax for the keys is similar to the syntax used by the kbd function (see Init Rebinding in GNU Emacs Manual, for more information).

Using :bind with a single cons

Here is an example of using a single cons: 

(use-package ace-jump-mode
  :bind ("C-." . ace-jump-mode))

This does two things: first, it creates an autoload for the ace-jump-mode command and defers loading of the ace-jump-mode package until you actually use it. Second, it binds the key C-. to that command globally.

Using :bind with a list of conses

Here is an example of using :bind with a list of conses: 

(use-package hi-lock
  :bind (("M-o l" . highlight-lines-matching-regexp)
         ("M-o r" . highlight-regexp)
         ("M-o w" . highlight-phrase)))

This binds the three key sequences to the corresponding commands.

Using special keys

Inside key strings, special keys like TAB or F1–F12 have to be written inside angle brackets, e.g., "C-<up>". Standalone special keys (and some combinations) can be written in square brackets, e.g. [tab] instead of "<tab>".

Examples: 

(use-package helm
  :bind (("M-x" . helm-M-x)
         ("M-<f5>" . helm-find-files)
         ([f10] . helm-buffers-list)
         ([S-f10] . helm-recentf)))

Remapping commands

Remapping of commands with :bind and bind-key works as expected, because when the binding is a vector, it is passed straight to define-key. See Remapping Commands in GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual), for more information about command remapping. For example, the following declaration will rebind fill-paragraph (bound to M-q by default) to unfill-toggle: 

(use-package unfill
  :bind ([remap fill-paragraph] . unfill-toggle))

What :bind does behind the scenes

To understand what :bind does behind the scenes, it might be useful to consider an example: 

(use-package ace-jump-mode
  :bind ("C-." . ace-jump-mode))

This could be expressed in a much more verbose way with the :commands and :init keywords: 

(use-package ace-jump-mode
  :commands ace-jump-mode
  :init
  (bind-key "C-." 'ace-jump-mode))

Without using even the :commands keyword, we could also write the above like so: 

(use-package ace-jump-mode
  :defer t
  :init
  (autoload 'ace-jump-mode "ace-jump-mode" nil t)
  (bind-key "C-." 'ace-jump-mode))

Although these three forms are all equivalent, the first form is usually the best, as it will save some typing.

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4.2.2 Key bindings in local keymaps

Slightly different from binding a key to a keymap, is binding a key within a local keymap that only exists after the package is loaded. use-package supports this with a :map modifier, taking the local keymap to bind to: 

(use-package helm
  :bind (:map helm-command-map
         ("C-c h" . helm-execute-persistent-action)))

The effect of this is to wait until helm has loaded, and then to bind the key sequence C-c h to helm-execute-persistent-action within Helm’s local keymap, helm-command-map.

Multiple uses of :map may be specified. Any binding occurring before the first use of :map are applied to the global keymap: 

(use-package term
  :bind (("C-c t" . term)
         :map term-mode-map
         ("M-p" . term-send-up)
         ("M-n" . term-send-down)
         :map term-raw-map
         ("M-o" . other-window)
         ("M-p" . term-send-up)
         ("M-n" . term-send-down)))

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4.2.3 Binding to keymaps

Normally :bind expects that commands are functions that will be autoloaded from the given package. However, this does not work if one of those commands is actually a keymap, since keymaps are not functions, and cannot be autoloaded using the built-in autoload function.

To handle this case, use-package offers a special, limited variant of :bind called :bind-keymap. The only difference is that the “commands” bound to by :bind-keymap must be keymaps defined in the package, rather than interactive functions. This is handled behind the scenes by generating custom code that loads the package containing the keymap, and then re-executes your keypress after the first load, to reinterpret that keypress as a prefix key.

For example: 

(use-package foo
  :bind-keymap ("C-c p" . foo-command-map))

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4.2.4 Binding to repeat-maps

A special case of binding within a local keymap is when that keymap is used by repeat-mode (see Repeating in GNU Emacs Manual). These keymaps are usually defined specifically for this. Using the :repeat-map keyword, and passing it a name for the map it defines, will bind all the following keys inside that map, and (by default) set the repeat-map property of each bound command to that map.

The following example creates a keymap called git-gutter+-repeat-map, makes four bindings in it, then sets the repeat-map property of each bound command (git-gutter+-next-hunk, git-gutter+-previous-hunk, git-gutter+-stage-hunks, and git-gutter+-revert-hunk) to that keymap. 

(use-package git-gutter+
  :bind
  (:repeat-map git-gutter+-repeat-map
   ("n" . git-gutter+-next-hunk)
   ("p" . git-gutter+-previous-hunk)
   ("s" . git-gutter+-stage-hunks)
   ("r" . git-gutter+-revert-hunk)))

Specifying :exit inside the scope of :repeat-map will prevent the repeat-map property from being set, so that the command can be used from within the repeat map, but after using it the repeat map will no longer be available. This is useful for commands often used at the end of a series of repeated commands. Example: 

(use-package git-gutter+
  :bind
  (:repeat-map my/git-gutter+-repeat-map
   ("n" . git-gutter+-next-hunk)
   ("p" . git-gutter+-previous-hunk)
   ("s" . git-gutter+-stage-hunks)
   ("r" . git-gutter+-revert-hunk)
   :exit
   ("c" . magit-commit-create)
   ("C" . magit-commit)
   ("b" . magit-blame)))

Specifying :continue forces setting the repeat-map property (just like not specifying :exit), so the above snippet is equivalent to: 

(use-package git-gutter+
  :bind
  (:repeat-map my/git-gutter+-repeat-map
   :exit
   ("c" . magit-commit-create)
   ("C" . magit-commit)
   ("b" . magit-blame)
   :continue
   ("n" . git-gutter+-next-hunk)
   ("p" . git-gutter+-previous-hunk)
   ("s" . git-gutter+-stage-hunks)
   ("r" . git-gutter+-revert-hunk)))

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4.2.5 Displaying personal keybindings

The :bind keyword uses the bind-keys macro from the ‘bind-key.el’ library to set up keybindings. It keeps track of all keybindings you make, so that you can display them separately from the default keybindings.

Use M-x describe-personal-keybindings to see all keybindings you’ve set using either the :bind keyword or the bind-keys macro.

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4.3 Hooks

The :hook keyword allows adding functions to hooks. It takes one argument of the form hooks, specifying one or more functions to add to one or more hooks. For the purposes of :hook, the name of hook variables should always exclude the ‘-hook’ suffix. It is appended automatically for you, to save some typing.

For example, consider the following use-package declaration that sets up autoloads for company-mode from the ‘company’ package, and adds ‘company-mode’ to prog-mode-hook: 

(use-package company
  :commands company-mode
  :init
  (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook #'company-mode))

Using :hook, this can be simplified to: 

(use-package company
  :hook (prog-mode . company-mode))

Here, :hook will automatically set up autoloads for the company-mode command, so there is no need to use :commands.

The :hook keyword will also assume that the name of the function you want to add is the same as the package name with ‘-mode’ appended to it. Taking this into account, you can simplify the above to the equivalent: 

(use-package company
  :hook prog-mode)

You can also provide a list of hooks. When multiple hooks should be applied, the following examples are all equivalent: 

(use-package company
  :hook (prog-mode text-mode))



(use-package company
  :hook ((prog-mode text-mode) . company-mode))



(use-package company
  :hook ((prog-mode . company-mode)
         (text-mode . company-mode)))



(use-package company
  :commands company-mode
  :init
  (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook #'company-mode)
  (add-hook 'text-mode-hook #'company-mode))

One common mistake when using :hook is to forget to omit the ‘-hook’ suffix, which, as already explained, is appended automatically. Therefore, the following will not work, as it attempts to add a function to non-existent prog-mode-hook-hook: 

;; DOES NOT WORK
(use-package ace-jump-mode
  :hook (prog-mode-hook . ace-jump-mode))

If you do not like this behavior, you can customize the user option use-package-hook-name-suffix to nil. The value of this variable is ‘"-hook"’ by default.

The use of :hook, as with :bind, :mode, :interpreter, etc., causes the functions being hooked to implicitly be read as :commands. This means that they will establish interactive autoload definitions for that module, if not already defined as functions), and so :defer t is also implied by :hook.

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4.4 Modes and interpreters

Similar to :bind, you can use :mode and :interpreter to establish a deferred binding within the auto-mode-alist and interpreter-mode-alist variables (see Auto Major Mode in GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual). The specifier to either keyword can be a cons cell, a list of cons cells, or a string or regexp.

The following example reproduces the default ruby-mode configuration, exactly as it is in Emacs out-of-the-box. That mode is enabled automatically when a file whose name matches the regexp "\\.rb\\'" (a file with the .rb extension), or when the first line of the file (known as the “shebang”) matches the string "ruby": 

(use-package ruby-mode
  :mode "\\.rb\\'"
  :interpreter "ruby")

The default python-mode configuration can be reproduced using the declaration below. Note that the package that should be loaded differs from the mode name in this case, so we must use a cons: 

;; The package is "python" but the mode is "python-mode":
(use-package python
  :mode ("\\.py\\'" . python-mode)
  :interpreter ("python" . python-mode))

Both the :mode and :interpreter keywords also accept a list of regexps: 

(use-package foo
  ;; Equivalent to "\\(ba[rz]\\)\\'":
  :mode ("\\.bar\\'" "\\.baz\\'")
  ;; Equivalent to "\\(foo[ab]\\)":
  :interpreter ("fooa" "foob"))

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4.5 Magic handlers

Similar to :mode and :interpreter, you can also use :magic and :magic-fallback to cause certain function to be run if the beginning of a file matches a given regular expression, as if these regular expressions were added to magic-mode-alist and magic-fallback-mode-alist (see Auto Major Mode in GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual). The difference between :magic and :magic-fallback, is that the latter has a lower priority than :mode.

Here is an example: 

(use-package pdf-tools
  :magic ("%PDF" . pdf-view-mode)
  :config
  (pdf-tools-install :no-query))

This registers an autoloaded command for pdf-view-mode, defers loading of pdf-tools, and runs pdf-view-mode if the beginning of a buffer matches the string "%PDF".

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4.6 User options

In Emacs, you normally set customizable variables (user options) using the M-x customize interface (see Easy Customization in GNU Emacs Manual). We recommend this method for most users. However, it is also possible to set them in your use-package declarations by using the :custom keyword. 

(use-package comint
  :defer t
  :custom
  (comint-buffer-maximum-size 20000 "Increase comint buffer size.")
  (comint-prompt-read-only t "Make the prompt read only."))

This is better than using setq in a :config block, as customizable variables might have some code associated with it that Emacs will execute when you assign values to them. (In Emacs 29 and later, there is also the new setopt macro that does this for you.)

Note that the values customized using :custom are not saved in the standard Emacs custom-file (see Saving Customizations in GNU Emacs Manual). You should therefore set each user option using either the :custom keyword or M-x customize-option command; the latter will save customized values in the Emacs custom-file. Do not use both for the same variable, as this risks having conflicting values in your use-package declaration and your custom-file, which can lead to problems that are both tricky and tedious to debug.

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4.7 Faces

The :custom-face keyword allows customization of package’s faces. Example: 

(use-package eruby-mode
  :custom-face
  (eruby-standard-face ((t (:slant italic)))))



(use-package example
  :custom-face
  (example-1-face ((t (:foreground "LightPink"))))
  (example-2-face ((t (:foreground "LightGreen"))) face-defspec-spec))



(use-package zenburn-theme
  :preface
  (setq my/zenburn-colors-alist
        '((fg . "#DCDCCC") (bg . "#1C1C1C") (cyan . "#93E0E3")))
  :custom-face
  (region ((t (:background ,(alist-get my/zenburn-colors-alist 'cyan)))))
  :config
  (load-theme 'zenburn t))

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4.8 Hiding minor modes with diminish and delight

use-package supports the diminish and delight packages, both of which make it possible to remove or change minor mode strings in your mode-line. Which one to use is up to you, but you should normally only use one or the other – never both.2 To use either of them, you must first install the corresponding package from GNU ELPA.

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4.8.1 Diminish

When diminish3 is installed, you can use the :diminish keyword. If diminish is not installed, the :diminish keyword does nothing.

First, add the following declaration to the beginning of your init file. 

(use-package diminish :ensure t)

The optional :ensure t makes sure the package is installed if it isn’t already (see Installing packages automatically).

The :diminish keyword takes as its argument either a minor mode symbol, a cons of the symbol and its replacement string, or just a replacement string, in which case the minor mode symbol is guessed to be the package name with ‘-mode’ appended at the end: 

(use-package abbrev
  :diminish abbrev-mode
  :config
  (if (file-exists-p abbrev-file-name)
      (quietly-read-abbrev-file)))

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4.8.2 Delight

When delight4 is installed, you can use the :delight keyword. If delight is not installed, the :delight keyword does nothing.

First, add the following declaration to the beginning of your init file. 

(use-package delight :ensure t)

The optional :ensure t makes sure the package is installed if it isn’t already (see Installing packages automatically).

The :delight keyword takes as its argument a minor mode symbol, a replacement string, or quoted mode line data (in which case the minor mode symbol is assumed to be the package name with ‘-mode’ appended at the end), both of these, or several lists of both. See Mode Line Data in GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual. If no arguments are provided, the default mode name is hidden completely.

For example, the following hides everything for the ‘foo-mode’ minor mode in the ‘foo’ package: 

(use-package foo
  :delight)

If the mode name doesn’t match the package name with ‘-mode’ appended, provide a symbol instead. For example, the following hides auto-revert-mode from the mode line: 

;; Don't show anything for auto-revert-mode, which doesn't match
;; its package name.
(use-package autorevert
  :delight auto-revert-mode)

You can also use arbitrary Lisp code as argument of :delight. For example, to replace ‘foo-mode’ with the value of the current buffer: 

(use-package foo
  :delight '(:eval buffer-file-name))

Here is an example of hiding several built-in minor modes: 

;; Completely hide visual-line-mode and change auto-fill-mode to " AF".
(use-package emacs
  :delight
  (auto-fill-function " AF")
  (visual-line-mode))

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5 Installing packages automatically

The standard Emacs package manager is documented in the Emacs manual (see Package Installation in GNU Emacs Manual). The use-package macro provides the :ensure and :pin keywords that interface with that package manager to automatically install packages. This is particularly useful if you use your init file on more than one system.

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5.1 Installing package

The :ensure keyword makes use-package ask the Emacs package manager to install a package if it is not already present on your system.

For example: 

(use-package magit
  :ensure t)

If you need to install a different package from the one named by use-package, you can use a symbol: 

(use-package tex
  :ensure auctex)

You can customize the user option use-package-always-ensure to a non-nil value if you want this behavior to be global for all packages: 

(require 'use-package-ensure)
(setq use-package-always-ensure t)

You can override the above setting for a single package by adding :ensure nil to its declaration.

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5.2 Pinning packages using :pin

use-package can pin a package to a specific archive using the :pin keyword.5 This allows you to mix and match packages from different archives. The primary use-case for this is preferring to install packages from GNU ELPA or NonGNU ELPA (indicated by gnu and nongnu, respectively), while installing specific packages from third-party archives.

For example: 

(use-package company
  :ensure t
  :pin gnu)   ; GNU ELPA

Unfortunately, the third-party archive MELPA uses a versioning scheme based on dates, which means that packages from that archive are always preferred. If you are using that archive, we strongly encourage you to customize use-package-always-pin to nongnu. This guarantees that you are using a version of that package that has been specifically marked for release by its developer, and not a development snapshot.

If you want to manually keep a package updated and ignore upstream updates, you can pin it to ‘manual’. This will work as long as you have not customized a repository to use that name in the package-archives variable.

Example: 

(use-package org
  :ensure t
  ;; ignore org-mode from upstream and use a manually installed version
  :pin manual)

use-package signals an error if you try to pin a package to an archive that is not configured using package-archives (except from the special ‘manual’ archive).

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5.3 Non-standard package managers

By default, use-package assumes that you are using the Emacs built-in package.el package manager. We expect that most users will find that it is capable enough, even for advanced use cases.

However, some users might prefer to use a third-party package manager for a specific circumstance or use case. By setting the user option use-package-ensure-function to the name of a function, you can direct :ensure to use a different package manager for installing packages.

For more details, please see the documentation of the package manager you are using. If you run into any bugs, it is often best to report them directly to the developers of that package manager.

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6 Byte-compiling your init file

Some users might want to byte-compile their init file to make Emacs startup faster. This is not recommended in most cases, as the speed-up is usually too small to be worth it, and it can lead to confusion if the byte-compiled files are out-of-date. If you still want to do it, this chapter explains how to do that.

use-package always loads every library that it can while a file is being byte-compiled. This helps silence spurious warnings about unknown variables and functions.

However, there are times when this is just not enough. For those times, use the :defines and :functions keywords to introduce dummy variable and function declarations solely for the sake of silencing byte-compiler warnings. For example: 

(use-package texinfo
  :defines texinfo-section-list
  :commands texinfo-mode
  :init
  (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.texi$" . texinfo-mode)))

If you need to silence a missing function warning, you can use :functions: 

(use-package ruby-mode
  :mode "\\.rb\\'"
  :interpreter "ruby"
  :functions inf-ruby-keys
  :config
  (defun my-ruby-mode-hook ()
    (require 'inf-ruby)
    (inf-ruby-keys))
  (add-hook 'ruby-mode-hook 'my-ruby-mode-hook))

Normally, use-package will load each package at compile time before compiling the configuration, to ensure that any necessary symbols are in scope to satisfy the byte-compiler. At times this can cause problems, since a package may have special loading requirements, and all that you want to use use-package for is to add a configuration to the eval-after-load hook. In such cases, use the :no-require keyword: 

(use-package foo
  :no-require t
  :config
  (message "Evaluate this immediately after loading `foo'"))

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7 Troubleshooting

If an error occurs while initializing or configuring a package, this will not stop your Emacs from loading. Instead, use-package captures the error and reports it in a special *Warnings* popup buffer, so that you can debug the situation in an otherwise functional Emacs.

If you are having trouble when starting Emacs, you can pass Emacs the ‘--debug-init’ command line flag. See Initial Options in GNU Emacs Manual. To get even more information when using that flag, add the following to your init file (these options are documented below): 

(when init-file-debug
  (setq use-package-verbose t
        use-package-expand-minimally nil
        use-package-compute-statistics t
        debug-on-error t))

Since use-package is a macro, the first step when you need to dig deeper is usually to see what Emacs Lisp code your declaration expands to. You can either use the command M-x pp-macroexpand-last-sexp, or wrap the use-package declaration in macroexpand and evaluate it. It is a good idea to include their output in any bugs you file for use-package.

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7.1 Options that help when troubleshooting

By default, use-package will attempts to catch and report errors that occur during expansion of use-package declarations in your init file. Customize the user option use-package-expand-minimally to a non-nil value to disable this checking.

This behavior may be overridden locally using the :catch keyword. If t or nil, it enables or disables catching errors at load time. It can also be a function taking two arguments: the keyword being processed at the time the error was encountered, and the error object (as generated by condition-case). For example: 

(use-package example
  ;; Note that errors are never trapped in the preface, since
  ;; doing so would hide definitions from the byte-compiler.
  :preface (message "I'm here at byte-compile and load time")
  :init (message "I'm always here at startup")
  :config
  (message "I'm always here after the package is loaded")
  (error "oops")
  ;; Don't try to (require 'example), this is just an example!
  :no-require t
  :catch (lambda (keyword err)
           (message (error-message-string err))))

Evaluating the above form will print these messages: 

I'm here at byte-compile and load time
I'm always here at startup
Configuring package example...
I'm always here after the package is loaded
oops

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7.2 Gathering Statistics

When a package is loaded, and if you have use-package-verbose set to t, or if the package takes longer than 0.1 seconds to load, you will see a message to indicate this loading activity in the *Messages* buffer. The same will happen for configuration, or :config blocks, that take longer than 0.1 seconds to execute.

If you’d like to see a summary how many packages you’ve loaded, what stage of initialization they’ve reached, and how much aggregate time they’ve spent (roughly), you can customize the user option use-package-compute-statistics to a non-nil value. Then reload your packages, normally by restarting Emacs, to make sure that use-package can gather statistics for all your packages.

Run the command M-x use-package-report to see the results. The buffer displayed is a tabulated list. To sort rows based on a particular column, move point to it and type S, or click the column name at the top of the buffer on graphical displays.

To reset all statistics that use-package has gathered for the current Emacs invocation, run the command M-x use-package-reset-statistics.

Note that if you are setting use-package-compute-statistics directly in your init file, and not with customize, you must do this after loading use-package, but before any use-package forms.

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7.3 Disabling a package

The :disabled keyword inhibits loading a package, and all its customizations. It is equivalent to commenting out or deleting the definition.

You could use this, for example, to temporarily disable a package that you’re having difficulties with, or to avoid loading a package that you’re not currently using.

This example disables the ‘foo’ package: 

(use-package foo
  :disabled)

When byte-compiling your init file, use-package omits disabled declarations from the output entirely, in order to make Emacs startup faster.

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Appendix A Keyword extensions

use-package is based on an extensible framework that makes it easy for package authors to add new keywords, or modify the behavior of existing keywords.

Some keyword extensions are included with use-package, and can be optionally enabled.

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A.1 :use-package-ensure-system-package

The :ensure-system-package keyword allows you to ensure certain executables are available on your system alongside your package declarations.6

To use this extension, add this immediately after loading use-package: 

(use-package use-package-ensure-system-package)

Now you can use the :ensure-system-package keyword. Here’s an example usage: 

(use-package foo
  :ensure-system-package foo)

This will expect a global binary package to exist called foo. If it does not, it will use your system package manager to attempt an install of a binary by the same name asynchronously. This requires the GNU ELPA package ‘system-packages’, so for this to work you must install that first.

One way of making sure it is installed is with use-package together with :ensure. 

(use-package system-packages
  :ensure t)

For example, on a Debian GNU/Linux system, this would call ‘apt-get install foo’.

If the package is named differently than the binary, you can use a cons in the form of (binary . package-name). For example: 

(use-package foo
  :ensure-system-package
  (foocmd . foo))

On a Debian GNU/Linux system, this would call apt install foo if Emacs could not locate the executable foocmd.7

:ensure-system-package can also take a cons where the cdr is a string that will get called by (async-shell-command) to install if it isn’t found. This does not depend on any external package. 

(use-package tern
  :ensure-system-package (tern . "npm i -g tern"))

To install several packages, you can pass in a list of conses: 

(use-package ruby-mode
  :ensure-system-package
  ((rubocop     . "gem install rubocop")
   (ruby-lint   . "gem install ruby-lint")
   (ripper-tags . "gem install ripper-tags")
   (pry         . "gem install pry")))

Finally, in case the package dependency does not provide a global executable, you can ensure that packages exist by checking the presence of a file by providing a string like so: 

(use-package dash-at-point
  :if (eq system-type 'darwin)
  :ensure-system-package
  ("/Applications/Dash.app" . "brew cask install dash"))

:ensure-system-package will use system-packages-install to install system packages, except where a custom command has been specified, in which case it will be executed verbatim by async-shell-command.

The user options system-packages-package-manager and system-packages-use-sudo are honored, but not for custom commands. Custom commands should include the call to sudo in the command if needed.

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A.2 How to create an extension keyword

This section describes how to create a new keyword.

  1. Add the keyword.

    The first step is to add your keyword at the right place in use-package-keywords. This list determines the order in which things will happen in the expanded code. You should never change this order, but it gives you a framework within which to decide when your keyword should fire.

  2. Create a normalizer.

    The job of the normalizer is take a list of arguments (possibly nil), and turn it into the single argument (which could still be a list) that should appear in the final property list used by use-package.

    Define a normalizer for your keyword by defining a function named after the keyword, for example: 

    (defun use-package-normalize/:pin (name-symbol keyword args)
  (use-package-only-one (symbol-name keyword) args
    (lambda (label arg)
      (cond
       ((stringp arg) arg)
       ((symbolp arg) (symbol-name arg))
       (t
        (use-package-error
         ":pin wants an archive name (a string)"))))))
  3. Create a handler.

    Once you have a normalizer, you must create a handler for the keyword.

    Handlers can affect the handling of keywords in two ways. First, they can modify the state plist before recursively processing the remaining keywords, to influence keywords that pay attention to the state (one example is the state keyword :deferred, not to be confused with the use-package keyword :defer). Then, once the remaining keywords have been handled and their resulting forms returned, the handlers may manipulate, extend, or just ignore those forms.

    The task of each handler is to return a list of forms representing code to be inserted. It does not need to be a progn list, as this is handled automatically in other places. Thus it is common to see the idiom of using use-package-concat to add new functionality before or after a code body, so that only the minimum code necessary is emitted as the result of a use-package expansion.

    This is an example handler: 

    (defun use-package-handler/:pin (name-symbol keyword archive-name rest state)
  (let ((body (use-package-process-keywords name-symbol rest state)))
    ;; This happens at macro expansion time, not when the expanded code is
    ;; compiled or evaluated.
    (if (null archive-name)
        body
      (use-package-pin-package name-symbol archive-name)
      (use-package-concat
       body
       `((push '(,name-symbol . ,archive-name)
               package-pinned-packages))))))
  4. Test it.

    After the keyword has been inserted into use-package-keywords, and a normalizer and a handler has been defined, you can now test the keyword by seeing how usages of the keyword will expand. For this, use M-x pp-macroexpand-last-sexp with the cursor set immediately after the (use-package …) expression.

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Appendix B History and acknowledgments

use-package was written by John Wiegley. Its development started in 2012, and it got merged into Emacs in 2022, in preparation of the release of Emacs 29.1.

Dozens of people have contributed to use-package over the years with bug reports, documentation and code. They are too many to list here, but we thank them all for their contributions.

This Texinfo manual was written by Stefan Kangas, as a significant rewrite of the old use-package manual and README.

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Appendix C GNU Free Documentation License

Version 1.3, 3 November 2008 
Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
https://fsf.org/

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
  1. PREAMBLE

    The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document free in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others.

    This License is a kind of “copyleft”, which means that derivative works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft license designed for free software.

    We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because free software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is instruction or reference.

  2. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS

    This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The “Document”, below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as “you”. You accept the license if you copy, modify or distribute the work in a way requiring permission under copyright law.

    A “Modified Version” of the Document means any work containing the Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into another language.

    A “Secondary Section” is a named appendix or a front-matter section of the Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the publishers or authors of the Document to the Document’s overall subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could fall directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the Document is in part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not explain any mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of historical connection with the subject or with related matters, or of legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding them.

    The “Invariant Sections” are certain Secondary Sections whose titles are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. If a section does not fit the above definition of Secondary then it is not allowed to be designated as Invariant. The Document may contain zero Invariant Sections. If the Document does not identify any Invariant Sections then there are none.

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    A “Transparent” copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy, represented in a format whose specification is available to the general public, that is suitable for revising the document straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images composed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely available drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to text formatters or for automatic translation to a variety of formats suitable for input to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise Transparent file format whose markup, or absence of markup, has been arranged to thwart or discourage subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent. An image format is not Transparent if used for any substantial amount of text. A copy that is not “Transparent” is called “Opaque”.

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    The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states that this License applies to the Document. These Warranty Disclaimers are considered to be included by reference in this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties: any other implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and has no effect on the meaning of this License.

  3. VERBATIM COPYING

    You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.

    You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display copies.

  4. COPYING IN QUANTITY

    If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of the Document, numbering more than 100, and the Document’s license notice requires Cover Texts, you must enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The front cover must present the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and visible. You may add other material on the covers in addition. Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve the title of the Document and satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other respects.

    If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit legibly, you should put the first ones listed (as many as fit reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the rest onto adjacent pages.

    If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering more than 100, you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location from which the general network-using public has access to download using public-standard network protocols a complete Transparent copy of the Document, free of added material. If you use the latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure that this Transparent copy will remain thus accessible at the stated location until at least one year after the last time you distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that edition to the public.

    It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the Document well before redistributing any large number of copies, to give them a chance to provide you with an updated version of the Document.

  5. MODIFICATIONS

    You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the Modified Version under precisely this License, with the Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing distribution and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:

    1. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct from that of the Document, and from those of previous versions (which should, if there were any, be listed in the History section of the Document). You may use the same title as a previous version if the original publisher of that version gives permission.
    2. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for authorship of the modifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five of the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you from this requirement.
    3. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the Modified Version, as the publisher.
    4. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.
    5. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications adjacent to the other copyright notices.
    6. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice giving the public permission to use the Modified Version under the terms of this License, in the form shown in the Addendum below.
    7. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and required Cover Texts given in the Document’s license notice.
    8. Include an unaltered copy of this License.
    9. Preserve the section Entitled “History”, Preserve its Title, and add to it an item stating at least the title, year, new authors, and publisher of the Modified Version as given on the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled “History” in the Document, create one stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of the Document as given on its Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified Version as stated in the previous sentence.
    10. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public access to a Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise the network locations given in the Document for previous versions it was based on. These may be placed in the “History” section. You may omit a network location for a work that was published at least four years before the Document itself, or if the original publisher of the version it refers to gives permission.
    11. For any section Entitled “Acknowledgements” or “Dedications”, Preserve the Title of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.
    12. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered in their text and in their titles. Section numbers or the equivalent are not considered part of the section titles.
    13. Delete any section Entitled “Endorsements”. Such a section may not be included in the Modified Version.
    14. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled “Endorsements” or to conflict in title with any Invariant Section.
    15. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.

    If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at your option designate some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version’s license notice. These titles must be distinct from any other section titles.

    You may add a section Entitled “Endorsements”, provided it contains nothing but endorsements of your Modified Version by various parties—for example, statements of peer review or that the text has been approved by an organization as the authoritative definition of a standard.

    You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be added by (or through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the Document already includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or by arrangement made by the same entity you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but you may replace the old one, on explicit permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.

    The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission to use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.

  6. COMBINING DOCUMENTS

    You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents, unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.

    The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but different contents, make the title of each such section unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number. Make the same adjustment to the section titles in the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined work.

    In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled “History” in the various original documents, forming one section Entitled “History”; likewise combine any sections Entitled “Acknowledgements”, and any sections Entitled “Dedications”. You must delete all sections Entitled “Endorsements.”

  7. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS

    You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released under this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in the various documents with a single copy that is included in the collection, provided that you follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the documents in all other respects.

    You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.

  8. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS

    A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an “aggregate” if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation’s users beyond what the individual works permit. When the Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other works in the aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.

    If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document’s Cover Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.

  9. TRANSLATION

    Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices in the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original English version of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.

    If a section in the Document is Entitled “Acknowledgements”, “Dedications”, or “History”, the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the actual title.

  10. TERMINATION

    You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute it is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.

    However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation.

    Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after your receipt of the notice.

    Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate the licenses of parties who have received copies or rights from you under this License. If your rights have been terminated and not permanently reinstated, receipt of a copy of some or all of the same material does not give you any rights to use it.

  11. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

    The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

    Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License “or any later version” applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document specifies that a proxy can decide which future versions of this License can be used, that proxy’s public statement of acceptance of a version permanently authorizes you to choose that version for the Document.

  12. RELICENSING

    “Massive Multiauthor Collaboration Site” (or “MMC Site”) means any World Wide Web server that publishes copyrightable works and also provides prominent facilities for anybody to edit those works. A public wiki that anybody can edit is an example of such a server. A “Massive Multiauthor Collaboration” (or “MMC”) contained in the site means any set of copyrightable works thus published on the MMC site.

    “CC-BY-SA” means the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license published by Creative Commons Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation with a principal place of business in San Francisco, California, as well as future copyleft versions of that license published by that same organization.

    “Incorporate” means to publish or republish a Document, in whole or in part, as part of another Document.

    An MMC is “eligible for relicensing” if it is licensed under this License, and if all works that were first published under this License somewhere other than this MMC, and subsequently incorporated in whole or in part into the MMC, (1) had no cover texts or invariant sections, and (2) were thus incorporated prior to November 1, 2008.

    The operator of an MMC Site may republish an MMC contained in the site under CC-BY-SA on the same site at any time before August 1, 2009, provided the MMC is eligible for relicensing.

ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents

To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of the License in the document and put the following copyright and license notices just after the title page: 

  Copyright (C)  year  your name.
  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
  under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
  or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
  with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
  Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU
  Free Documentation License''.

If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the “with…Texts.” line with this: 

    with the Invariant Sections being list their titles, with
    the Front-Cover Texts being list, and with the Back-Cover Texts
    being list.

If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the situation.

If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit their use in free software.

Previous: , Up: use-package User Manual   [Contents][Index]

Index

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A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V  
Index Entry  Section
:
:after: Loading sequentially
:all, (with :after): Loading sequentially
:any, (with :after): Loading sequentially
:autoload: Manual autoloads
:bind: Global keybindings
:bind, and function keys: Global keybindings
:bind, and remapping of commands: Global keybindings
:bind, internals: Global keybindings
:bind-keymap: Binding to a keymap
:catch: Troubleshooting Options
:commands: Manual autoloads
:config: Config keyword
:continue, inside :repeat-map and :bind: Binding to repeat-maps
:custom: User options
:custom-face: Faces
:defer: Deferring loading
:defer, with a numeric argument: Deferring loading
:defines: Byte-compiling
:delight: Delight
:demand: Forcing loading
:diminish: Diminish
:disabled: Disabling a package
:ensure: Install package
:ensure-system-package: use-package-ensure-system-package
:exit, inside :repeat-map and :bind: Binding to repeat-maps
:functions: Byte-compiling
:hook: Hooks
:if: Conditional loading
:init: Init keyword
:interpreter: Modes and interpreters
:load-path: Load path
:magic: Magic handlers
:magic-fallback: Magic handlers
:map, inside :bind: Binding in keymaps
:mode: Modes and interpreters
:no-require: Byte-compiling
:pin: Pinning packages
:preface: Preface keyword
:repeat-map, inside :bind: Binding to repeat-maps
:requires: Load dependencies
:unless: Conditional loading
:when: Conditional loading
A
auto-mode-alist customization: Modes and interpreters
autoloading packages: Deferring loading
autoloads for packages, setting up manually: Manual autoloads
B
binding commands used at end of repeat series: Binding to repeat-maps
binding function keys with :bind: Global keybindings
binding keys for package commands: Key bindings
binding keys to keymaps: Binding to a keymap
byte-compiling your init file: Byte-compiling
C
conditional loading: Conditional loading
conditional loading before :preface or :ensure: Conditional loading
configure package using Lisp forms: Lisp Configuration
configure packages using use-package: Configuring Packages
custom load-path for loading a package: Load path
customization of faces: Faces
customization of variables: User options
customize package configuration: Configuring Packages
D
debugging use-package: Troubleshooting
defer loading by default: Deferring loading
deferring loading of package: Deferring loading
describe-personal-keybindings: Displaying keybindings
disable package: Disabling a package
display your keybindings: Displaying keybindings
E
expanding macro, for troubleshooting: Troubleshooting
extending use-package keywords: Keyword extensions
extension keywords: Creating an extension
F
faces, setting: Faces
forcing immediate loading: Forcing loading
G
gathering use-package statistics: Gathering Statistics
global keybindings: Global keybindings
H
hiding minor modes: Hiding minor modes
hooks: Hooks
I
installing package from specific archive: Pinning packages
installing packages from archives: Install package
installing using non-standard package managers: Other package managers
interpreter-mode-alist customization: Modes and interpreters
K
key bindings for package commands: Key bindings
keybinding for repeat-mode keymaps: Binding to repeat-maps
keyword extension: Keyword extensions
L
lazy loading by default: Deferring loading
lazy loading of packages: Deferring loading
list of selectors, for :after: Loading sequentially
load-path, add directories for loading a package: Load path
loading a package after other packages: Loading sequentially
loading conditions: Conditional loading
loading lazily: Deferring loading
loading packages with use-package: Loading Packages
local keybindings: Binding in keymaps
M
magic-mode-alist customization: Magic handlers
manual update of packages: Pinning packages
multiple hooks: Hooks
N
non-standard package managers: Other package managers
O
options for troubleshooting: Troubleshooting Options
P
package autoloads, setting up manually: Manual autoloads
package loading at byte-compilation time, prevent: Byte-compiling
package managers, other than package.el: Other package managers
package vs library: Loading basics
pinning a package to archive: Pinning packages
prevent a package from loading at compile-time: Byte-compiling
prevent loading package if dependencies are missing: Load dependencies
Q
quick-start instructions: Getting Started
R
reasons for developing use-package: Basic Concepts
remapping commands with :bind: Global keybindings
repeat-mode and use-package, using: Binding to repeat-maps
reporting bugs: Troubleshooting
S
setting up major modes: Modes and interpreters
silence byte-compilation warnings: Byte-compiling
T
tips for using :preface, :config, :init: Best practices
triggers, for loading packages: Deferring loading
troubleshooting use-package: Troubleshooting
troubleshooting, options that help: Troubleshooting Options
U
usage statistics for use-package: Gathering Statistics
use-package-always-defer: Deferring loading
use-package-always-defer, with :after: Loading sequentially
use-package-always-ensure: Install package
use-package-always-pin: Pinning packages
use-package-compute-statistics: Gathering Statistics
use-package-ensure-function: Other package managers
use-package-expand-minimally: Troubleshooting Options
use-package-hook-name-suffix: Hooks
use-package-report: Gathering Statistics
use-package-reset-statistics: Gathering Statistics
use-package-verbose: Gathering Statistics
user options, setting: User options
V
variable customizations: User options
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Footnotes

(1)

This happens both at run-time and at compile-time. See Byte-compiling your init file.

(2)

When in doubt, you might as well use diminish.

(3)

The diminish package is installable from GNU ELPA.

(4)

The delight package is installable from GNU ELPA.

(5)

The :pin keyword has no effect on Emacs versions older than 24.4.

(6)

On macOS, your exec-path might be different if you are starting Emacs as a GUI app instead of from a shell. If you find that Emacs on macOS cannot find some executables that you know are already installed, you could try the ‘exec-path-from-shell’ package.

(7)

For manual testing, you could use the executable-find function, which is what ‘system-packages’ uses internally.