JV> Where does "redump on package install" fit in this scenario (note that JV> the user and the package installer are typically not the same person). JV> Preferably with the "don't modify the binary" reduction. Currently, because the packages have been separated out, the xemacs binary doesn't depend on the packages at all. This is actually one of the nicest things about the package system. When packages are upgraded, the xemacsen that work with those packages won't be updated in general, and there may be multiple such xemacsen (typically --with-mule, --without-mule, stable, bleeding-edge, gui, non-gui, etc...) So I recommend against `redump on package install', at least for now. There should be other ways of making package autoload loading at startup faster. If a user has built their own dumped data which includes elisp from packages, they will have to redump. And you can't automate this.