Devise novel solution, document in changelog

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -13,8 +13,29 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog].
 * Patch forms were not processed when they appeared inside a vector.
   This has been fixed ([#51]).
 
+### Internal changes
+* The autoloading mechanism used by `el-patch` has changed, reducing
+  the amount of work that is done at startup and simplifying the
+  implementation ([#56]). The user-facing impact is as follows:
+    * `el-patch--patches` and `el-patch-deftype-alist` are no longer
+      autoloaded. If you use a compiled init-file, you may need to
+      recompile it with the new version of `el-patch`; the code
+      compiled with the old version of `el-patch` will not work at
+      runtime with the new version of `el-patch`. However, evaluating
+      patches in a compiled init-file, even one that uses
+      `el-patch-deftype`, still does not load `el-patch`.
+    * `el-patch-defun` and analogous functions are now autoloaded,
+      rather than fully defined at init time. This should not matter
+      since a compiled init-file would have macroexpanded these into
+      smaller components that do not have runtime dependencies on
+      `el-patch`.
+    * There is a new file `el-patch-stub.el` that needs to be on the
+      `load-path` for autoloads to work. This should be taken care of
+      automatically by any of the popular Emacs package managers.
+
 [#50]: https://github.com/raxod502/el-patch/issues/50
 [#51]: https://github.com/raxod502/el-patch/issues/51
+[#56]: https://github.com/raxod502/el-patch/pull/56
 
 ## 2.3.1 (released 2020-07-16)
 ### Bugs fixed

el-patch-stub.el

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+;;; el-patch-stub.el --- Functions loaded separately -*- lexical-binding: t -*-
+
+;; Copyright (C) 2021 Radon Rosborough
+
+;; Author: Radon Rosborough <radon.neon@gmail.com>
+;; Created: 21 Dec 2021
+;; Homepage: https://github.com/raxod502/el-patch
+;; Keywords: extensions
+;; Package-Requires: ((emacs "25"))
+;; SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+;; Version: 2.3.1
+
+;;; Commentary:
+
+;; `el-patch-stub' has some utility functions that are used to define
+;; stubs that are used only in the middle of the autoloading process.
+;; Basically, they allow us to conveniently set up syntax highlighting
+;; and indentation correctly for a number of different functions all
+;; at once, without a bunch of code duplication.
+
+;; Please see https://github.com/raxod502/el-patch for more
+;; information.
+
+;;; Code:
+
+(defun el-patch--deftype-stub-setup ()
+  "Define `el-patch-deftype' as a minimal version suitable for autoload time.
+This temporary replacement for the real functionality just takes
+care of the `declare' forms, and leaves everything else for
+later."
+  (unless (fboundp 'el-patch-deftype)
+    (defmacro el-patch-deftype (type &rest kwargs)
+      (let ((name (intern (format "el-patch-%S" type)))
+            (props (plist-get kwargs :declare)))
+        `(progn
+           (autoload ',name "el-patch" nil nil t)
+           (put ',name 'doc-string-elt ',(alist-get 'doc-string props))
+           (put ',name 'lisp-indent-function ',(alist-get 'indent props)))))))
+
+(provide 'el-patch-stub)
+
+;; Local Variables:
+;; indent-tabs-mode: nil
+;; End:
+
+;;; el-patch-stub.el ends here

el-patch.el

@@ -83,7 +83,6 @@ provided by lazy-installed packages, and those packages need to
 be installed before the features can be loaded."
   :type 'function)
 
-;;;###autoload
 (defcustom el-patch-deftype-alist nil
   "Alist of types of definitions that can be patched with `el-patch'.
 The keys are definition types, like `defun', `define-minor-mode',
@@ -549,6 +548,8 @@ MACRO-NAME)."
   (unless classify
     (error "You must specify `:classify' in calls to `el-patch-deftype'"))
   `(progn
+     (unless (bound-and-true-p el-patch-deftype-alist)
+       (setq el-patch-deftype-alist nil))
      (setf (alist-get ',type el-patch-deftype-alist)
            ;; Make sure we don't accidentally create self-modifying
            ;; code if somebody decides to mutate
@@ -562,6 +563,7 @@ The ARGS are the same as for `%S'."
        ,@(when declare
            `((declare ,@declare)))
        (list #'el-patch--definition (cl-list* ',type name args)))))
+(put 'el-patch-deftype 'el-patch-defined-properly t)
 
 ;;;;; Classification functions
 
@@ -660,58 +662,61 @@ DEFINITION is a list starting with `defun' or similar."
 
 ;;;;; Predefined patch types
 
+;;;###autoload(require 'el-patch-stub)
+;;;###autoload(el-patch--deftype-stub-setup)
+
 ;; These are alphabetized.
 
-;;;###autoload (autoload 'el-patch-cl-defun "el-patch")
+;;;###autoload
 (el-patch-deftype cl-defun
   :classify el-patch-classify-function
   :locate el-patch-locate-function
   :declare ((doc-string 3)
             (indent defun)))
 
-;;;###autoload (autoload 'el-patch-defconst "el-patch")
+;;;###autoload
 (el-patch-deftype defconst
   :classify el-patch-classify-variable
   :locate el-patch-locate-variable
   :declare ((doc-string 3)
             (indent defun)))
 
-;;;###autoload (autoload 'el-patch-defcustom "el-patch")
+;;;###autoload
 (el-patch-deftype defcustom
   :classify el-patch-classify-variable
   :locate el-patch-locate-variable
   :declare ((doc-string 3)
             (indent defun)))
 
-;;;###autoload (autoload 'el-patch-define-minor-mode "el-patch")
+;;;###autoload
 (el-patch-deftype define-minor-mode
   :classify el-patch-classify-define-minor-mode
   :locate el-patch-locate-function
   :declare ((doc-string 2)
             (indent defun)))
 
-;;;###autoload (autoload 'el-patch-defmacro "el-patch")
+;;;###autoload
 (el-patch-deftype defmacro
   :classify el-patch-classify-function
   :locate el-patch-locate-function
   :declare ((doc-string 3)
             (indent defun)))
 
-;;;###autoload (autoload 'el-patch-defsubst "el-patch")
+;;;###autoload
 (el-patch-deftype defsubst
   :classify el-patch-classify-function
   :locate el-patch-locate-function
   :declare ((doc-string 3)
             (indent defun)))
 
-;;;###autoload (autoload 'el-patch-defun "el-patch")
+;;;###autoload
 (el-patch-deftype defun
   :classify el-patch-classify-function
   :locate el-patch-locate-function
   :declare ((doc-string 3)
             (indent defun)))
 
-;;;###autoload (autoload 'el-patch-defvar "el-patch")
+;;;###autoload
 (el-patch-deftype defvar
   :classify el-patch-classify-variable
   :locate el-patch-locate-variable