junk allows you to group packages as an expansion pack that can be
installed together and optionally with so-called extras.
It grew out of my configuration and therefore is currently still heavily geared towards my usage.
If you use straight or quelpa, you know what to do.
If you’re on Emacs >29, I recommend using package-vc-install.
Alternatively, provided you have Cask, you can install the package
with make package-install. You will need to run git submodule init
first to clone dinghy dependency.
You can use junk-expand to create a named expansion pack that includes
packages that will always be installed and optional extras. Normals
packages use the :packages keyword; recipes (installed using
package-vc-install and appropriate specs) use :recipes.
(junk-expand big-pack
"Additional packages for big users."
:packages (slime cider)
:extras (clojure-mode puni)
:recipes ((junk (:url "https://github.com/Walheimat/junk.git"))))You can now install big-pack by calling junk-install. It will install
slime, cider and junk. When called again, it will prompt to install
one of the extras. If all packages are installed, it will just emit a
message to that effect.
If you use marginalia you can use the annotation function
junk-annotate.
(add-to-list 'marginalia-annotator-registry '(expansion-pack junk-annotate builtin none))
(add-to-list 'marginalia-command-categories '(junk-install . expansion-pack))If you use use-package (and why wouldn’t you), you might want to call
junk-setup-use-package. This will make sure the
use-package-ensure-function is not called for junk packages. So even
if you had set use-package-always-ensure to t, those packages would
not be installed (provided the related junk form is above the
use-package form).
Please have a look, again, at my configuration for usage examples.