using packages?

Hi there, after some extended absence from this list (due to lack of time), I now grabbed the latest xemacs beta from xemacs.org again and tried to build it. Unfortunately, I seem to experience trouble with trying to get the packages to work correctly. As this topic has probably been discussed several times, I'd rather not start a whole new discussion, so I'd be grateful - if someone who feels knowledgable enough would come back to me via email to help me get through this now, instead of (maybe for the gazillionth time post it here... ;) The story so far: I built and installed xemacs (--prefix=/usr/local/stow/xemacs-21.0-b46). Then I created a directory /usr/local/stow/xemacs-21.0-b46/packages and extracted some packages into that one (cc, vc-cc, pcl-cvs); went back to /usr/local/src/xemacs-21.0-b46 and did "rm lib-src/DOC ; make". The result is an emacs crash with the following (strongly abridged) lisp backtrace: [...] Loading /usr/local/src/xemacs-21.0-b46/lisp/loadhist.elc... (2772) Loading /usr/local/src/xemacs-21.0-b46/lisp/loaddefs.elc... (488) Loading /usr/local/stow/xemacs-21.0-b46/packages/lisp/vc-cc/dumped-lisp.el... (0 ) Loading vc-hooks... Loading advice...*** Error in XEmacs initialization (void-function byte-compile) *** Backtrace really-early-error-handler((void-function byte-compile)) byte-compile(documentation) # bind (ad-activate-on-top-level function) ad-compile-function(documentation) # bind (verified-cached-definition compile function) ad-activate-advised-definition(documentation compile) # bind (ad-activate-on-top-level compile function) ad-activate-on(documentation compile) ad-start-advice() byte-code("..." [ad-start-advice provide advice] 2) # bind (current-load-list) # (unwind-protect ...) # bind (load-file-name) # (unwind-protect ...) [... abridged ...] # (unwind-protect ...) # (unwind-protect ...) # (unwind-protect ...) # (unwind-protect ...) load("/usr/local/src/xemacs-21.0-b46/src/../lisp/loadup.el") # (condition-case ... . error) # (catch top-level ...) *** Killing XEmacs make[1]: [xemacs] Error 255 (ignored) Any ideas? Benedikt CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic's eyes to improve his vision. [Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"]