Activate a single ELPA package out of many

Question

I want to start Emacs from a clean state and activate only one package in ~/.emacs.d/elpa/, not all of them. Specifically, I need to load a bleeding-edge version of Org-mode, while clean Emacs loads the built-in version. How do I do that?

Answer 1

To run Emacs from a clean state, provide a -Q option:

emacs -Q

Then run command eval-expression, usually M-:, and enter the following Lisp expression:

(let ((package-load-list '((org t)))) (package-initialize))

package-load-list variable holds packages that will load and activate when package-initialize is called. It's a list of pairs in the form of (PACKAGE VERSION). You can put t instead of VERSION, and the newest version will be loaded.

Answer 2

emacs -Q -l ~/.emacs.d/elpa/org-bleedingedge/org-autoloads.el

should do it. Of course, if that "org" package requires others, it won't magically handle those dependencies.

Answer 3

You might find that How to start up emacs with different configurations covers this. Create a new Emacs sandbox, install any packages you need, and you can run it side-by-side with your normal configuration.