I've written some utility functions for working with package-get-base.el The first of these is for reading in an incremental update (e.g, package-get-base.incremental-1998-10-01). The second function writes a new package-get-base.el file, using the current value of (the lisp variable) package-get-base. In a typical session, the user would 1) use package-base-update-from-file to read in the incremental changes (new or updated packages). 2) use package-dump-base to write a new package-get-base.el file. 3) byte-compile the new package-get-base.el. ;;; package-base-update.el (require 'package-get-base) (defun package-base-update-from-file (file) "Update package-get-base with new or modified package description entries from FILE." (interactive "fFile: ") (find-file file) (save-excursion (save-restriction (widen) (let ((standard-input (current-buffer))) (goto-char (point-min)) (do ((entry (read) (ignore-errors (read)))) ((null entry)) (if (assq (car entry) package-get-base) (setcdr (assq (car entry) package-get-base) (cdr entry)) (setq package-get-base (cons entry package-get-base)))))))) (defun package-print-entry (entry) (insert (format " (%S\n (\n" (car entry))) (do ((list (car (cdr entry)) (cdr (cdr list)))) ((null list)) (insert (format " %S %S\n" (car list) (car (cdr list))))) (insert " ))\n")) (defun package-dump-base (file) "Make a new package-get-base.el file using the current contents of package-get-base." (interactive "FFile: ") (when (or (not (file-exists-p file)) (yes-or-no-p "File %s exists. Overwrite? ")) (set-buffer (find-file file)) (erase-buffer) (insert ";;; package-get-base " (current-time-string) "\n") (insert "(setq package-get-base\n'(\n") (dolist (entry package-get-base) (print-entry entry)) (insert "))\n") (insert "(provide 'package-get-base)\n")))