RE: bug#59882: Multiple versions of Org in load-path problem

[Cook, Malcolm]

> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> >> Cc: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org, 59882@debbugs.gnu.org
> >> From: David Masterson <dsmasterson@gmail.com>
> >> Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2022 13:56:03 -0800
> >>
> >> In my testing, I found a strange case where, in *scratch*, I get:
> >>
> >> (message "%s" org-version)
> >> ;; Error undefined
> >> ;; Do 'C-h v org-version'
> >> (message "%s" org-version)
> >> 9.3
> >>
> >> So, 'describe-variable' on org-version causes Org to be loaded?!?
> >
> > Why is it so surprising?  Is this the first time you see that a Help
> > command loads something to do its job?
> 
> Yes, it is surprising.  How did Emacs know to load Org to find org-version? 

This is provided for via emacs' autoload by prefix mechanism.

See:

https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Autoload-by-Prefix.html

What you observed will NOT happen if you first run:

        (clrhash  definition-prefixes)

> didn't request it to by this action.  Or did it do a package-activate-all (or
> similar) to ensure that everything was loaded?
> That would be overkill.  Sometimes the best answer is 'nil'.
> 
> --
> David Masterson