41 Preparing Lisp code for distribution

Emacs provides a standard way to distribute Emacs Lisp code to users. A package is a collection of one or more files, formatted and bundled in such a way that users can easily download, install, uninstall, and upgrade it.

The following sections describe how to create a package, and how to put it in a package archive for others to download. See Packages in The GNU Emacs Manual, for a description of user-level features of the packaging system.

• Packaging Basics		The basic concepts of Emacs Lisp packages.
• Simple Packages		How to package a single .el file.
• Multi-file Packages		How to package multiple files.
• Package Archives		Maintaining package archives.
• Archive Web Server		Interfacing to an archive web server.