package-initialize fixes "Package X is not installable" errors

[twmr]

I find it strange that I have to manually run (package-initialize) in a non-batch emacs instance to fix the Package X is not installable. errors/warnings in the output of package-lint-current-buffer.

It would be nice if this could be done automatically by package-lint.

Tested using emacs27

[purcell]

Yeah, the flip side is that there's no real way for us to know if it's appropriate for us to call it for you. We could potentially have a specific error/warning for when no packages appear to be installable.

[gonewest818]

I've dealt with this in elisp-lint by post-processing the results of package-lint-current-buffer, and if package-archive-contents is nil then I drop all the "package X is not installable" warnings.

[seanfarley]

I think this is the third time I've randomly bumped into @gonewest818 (we met at a SF emacs meetup :-)) and with his good advice; thanks!

[seanfarley]

For background, and maybe other people coming here from doom, as a dev, perhaps I chose to use straight.el as a personal preference but I'm writing a package that I want to put on melpa (and have users of use-package) install. Now, I can't use package-lint without having permanent errors about not having installable dependencies :-/

... actually, as I was literally writing this message, I found that M-x package-refresh-contents will fix this error.

Would it be possible to have some logic in package-lint to check for package-archive-contents being nil and suggest running (perhaps auto-running is too much but it would be nice) whichever is the appropriate command?

[akirak]

@seanfarley

I chose to use straight.el as a personal preference

Me too. I ignore this error in interactive mode and run thorough linting in batch mode. You could use makem.sh for example, but I am also developing an alternative.

[seanfarley]

Oh, hi @akirak! I also use a lot of your packages and am a big fan of yours :-D

[akirak]

@seanfarley Thanks. You seem to be using org-starter, and it's interesting to find an actual configuration example of the package.

[nbfalcon]

I had the same issue, and it comes from package-lint--check-packages-installable, which checks package-archive-contents.

It can be fixed by adding package-archive-contents to savehist-additional-variables and running M-x package-refresh-contents once. The cached list of packages will be reloaded when Emacs is restarted, so running M-x package-refresh-contents isn't necessary.

Here is the relevant snippet for DOOM:

(after! savehist
  (add-to-list 'savehist-additional-variables 'package-archive-contents))