Tracking byte-compile-warning fixes contributed upstream to widely-used Emacs packages.
Many widely-used Emacs packages, especially those distributed through MELPA, are lightly maintained or dormant. As Emacs evolves, byte-compile warnings accumulate: functions and macros get marked obsolete, signatures change, and constructs that once compiled cleanly start emitting noise.
In my view, small and careful patches are a reasonable way to keep these packages compiling cleanly and to raise confidence in their continued support. This is community maintenance work, done with AI assistance. It is not a product and not affiliated with any company.
As Emacs releases progress, the byte-compiler flags newly-obsolete
constructs and other issues. One example: if-let was
marked obsolete in Emacs 31.1 in favour of if-let*.
Across a typical configuration of around 60 packages, there can be over a thousand such warning lines. Because maintainers may be inactive, these warnings tend to linger rather than get cleaned up.
For each package, the process is:
The longer-term plan is to run small local models continuously over a set of top packages, finding and fixing such warnings step by step. The aim is to gradually increase trust in the support status of MELPA packages.
The fixes are produced by agents that run a fixed, auditable
process against a package. Each agent is specified so a person or
another model can run it. Anyone can contribute an agent: add a spec
under agents/ and an entry to
_data/agents.yml via a pull request, and it can be picked
up here.
For one Emacs package, find a byte-compile warning, make a minimal version-compatible fix, ensure CI compiles with warnings as errors on the minimum and latest stable Emacs, and open one upstream pull request.
Specification Active
Read-only. Snapshot a package's health: last activity, CI presence and what it tests, declared vs effective minimum Emacs, and byte-compile cleanliness. Feeds the coverage table; opens no pull request.
Specification Draft
Read-only. Resolve a package's transitive dependencies and flag supply-chain risk: unmaintained or archived deps, known advisories (GHSA/OSV/CVE), network/native surface, and whether deps are pinned.
Specification Draft
Add the lexical-binding cookie to files that lack it, but only where it preserves behaviour (no reliance on dynamic binding); silence surfaced warnings, add CI, and open one pull request.
Specification Draft
A maintenance-health snapshot of the packages gone through: whether a fix was sent, whether CI exists and what it actually tests, and when each was last checked. This is complementary to MELPA: a quick signal of how well a package's continued support is verified, not a package source and not a replacement for MELPA.
| Package | Outcome | CI | Emacs tested | Warnings as errors | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| autothemer | jasonm23/autothemer#31 Merged | Extended | ert tests on Emacs 26.1-28.2, 30.1, snapshot | No | 2026-05-31 |
| smartparens | Fuco1/smartparens#1242 Submitted | Added | byte-compile (warnings as errors) on Emacs 27.1-30.1 and snapshot | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| rustic | emacs-rustic/rustic#128 Submitted | Added | byte-compile + load on Emacs 28.2, 30.1, snapshot | No | 2026-05-31 |
| dune | ocaml/dune#14798 Submitted | Added | byte-compile + load on Emacs 29.1, 30.1, snapshot | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| annalist | noctuid/annalist.el#6 Merged | Added | byte-compile on Emacs 30.1, snapshot; load on 24.4 | Partial | 2026-05-31 |
| goto-chg | Skipped | Existing | upstream workflow | Unknown | 2026-05-31 |
| treemacs-nerd-icons | Skipped | None | - | - | 2026-05-31 |
| f | Skipped | Existing | upstream workflow | Unknown | 2026-05-31 |
| s | Skipped | Existing | upstream workflow | Unknown | 2026-05-31 |
| magit | Skipped | Existing | emacscollective shared compile workflow (warnings as errors) + tests | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| forge | Skipped | Existing | emacscollective shared compile workflow (warnings as errors) | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| ghub | Skipped | Existing | emacscollective shared compile workflow (warnings as errors) | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| closql | Skipped | Existing | emacscollective shared compile workflow | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| with-editor | Skipped | Existing | emacscollective shared compile workflow (warnings as errors) | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| llama | Skipped | Existing | emacscollective shared compile workflow (warnings as errors) | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| cond-let | Skipped | Existing | emacscollective shared compile workflow (warnings as errors) | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| emacsql | Skipped | Existing | emacscollective shared compile workflow (warnings as errors) | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| posframe | tumashu/posframe#158 Submitted | Added | byte-compile on Emacs 26.1, 30.1, snapshot | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| general | noctuid/general.el#571 Submitted | Added | byte-compile (warnings as errors) on Emacs 28.2, 29.4, 30.1, snapshot | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| org-roam | org-roam/org-roam#2621 Submitted | Existing | upstream test.yml | Unknown | 2026-05-31 |
| diff-hl | Skipped | Existing | upstream workflow | Unknown | 2026-05-31 |
| dockerfile-mode | Skipped | Existing | upstream workflow | Unknown | 2026-05-31 |
| markdown-mode | Skipped | Existing | make test on Emacs 28.2, 29.4, 30.2, snapshot | Unknown | 2026-05-31 |
| pfuture | Skipped | None | - | - | 2026-05-31 |
| cfrs | Skipped | None | - | - | 2026-05-31 |
| xterm-color | atomontage/xterm-color#51 Merged | Added | byte-compile + load on Emacs 25.1, 30.1, snapshot | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| merlin | ocaml/merlin#2076 Submitted | Existing | upstream emacs-lint workflow | Unknown | 2026-05-31 |
| yaml | zkry/yaml.el#66 Submitted | Extended | byte-compile on Emacs 25.1, 30.1, snapshot; ert on 27.2 | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| treepy | volrath/treepy.el#19 Merged | Added | byte-compile + tests on Emacs 27.1, 30.1, snapshot | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| evil-surround | emacs-evil/evil-surround#220 Submitted | Added | byte-compile (library) + load on Emacs 27.2, 30.1, snapshot | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| evil-commentary | linktohack/evil-commentary#31 Submitted | Added | byte-compile (warnings as errors) on Emacs 30.1, snapshot; plain on 27.1 | Partial | 2026-05-31 |
| imenu-list | bmag/imenu-list#90 Submitted | Added | byte-compile (warnings as errors) on Emacs 30.1, snapshot; plain on 24.3 | Partial | 2026-05-31 |
| rust-mode | rust-lang/rust-mode#589 Submitted | Added | byte-compile on Emacs 26.1, 30.1, snapshot | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| caml | ocaml/caml-mode#21 Submitted | Added | byte-compile on Emacs 24.4, 30.1, snapshot | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| sage-shell-mode | sagemath/sage-shell-mode#87 Submitted | Added | byte-compile (warnings as errors) on Emacs 24.4, 30.1, snapshot | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| winum | deb0ch/emacs-winum#37 Submitted | Added | byte-compile (warnings as errors) on Emacs 30.1, snapshot; plain on 24.5 | Partial | 2026-05-31 |
| deferred | kiwanami/emacs-deferred#60 Submitted | Added | byte-compile (warnings as errors) on Emacs 30.1, snapshot; plain on 24.4 | Partial | 2026-05-31 |
| ht | Skipped | Existing | Cask/make on Emacs 25.3-28.2, snapshot | Unknown | 2026-05-31 |
| dash | Skipped | Existing | byte-compile on Emacs 24.1-30.2, snapshot | Yes | 2026-05-31 |
| swift-mode | Skipped | Existing | upstream run-test workflow | Unknown | 2026-05-31 |
| nerd-icons | Skipped | None | - | - | 2026-05-31 |
| tuareg | Skipped | Existing | upstream workflow | Unknown | 2026-05-31 |
| doom-modeline | Skipped | Existing | upstream workflow | Unknown | 2026-05-31 |
defvar forward declarations (text-scale-mode-amount, tab-line-format) and declare-function for several frame/font builtins. No residual warnings.declare, and added declare-functions. A remediation pass cleared the last two classes: the invalid or widget type became (choice symbol (repeat symbol)) (a latent bug, or is not a widget type), and the two cl-gensym uses now go through a version-aware general--gensym alias (built-in gensym when available, else cl-gensym via with-suppressed-warnings), preserving the 24.4 minimum.declare-function and defvar forward declarations. Residual: one EIEIO unknown-slot warning (needs class reordering), left as behaviour-changing.:type 'list to (repeat function), and replaced the deprecated define-minor-mode positional args with keywords (supported since 24.1). Behaviour-preserving.cl-gensym uses now go through a version-aware deferred:gensym alias (built-in gensym on 26.1+, else cl-gensym), and the debug-only discarded length result is wrapped in with-suppressed-warnings with a compat shim for the 24.x minimum.:type specs (incl. an unquoted const that was a latent Customize defect), and added a cl-deftype for the already-implemented sage-shell-cpl-state predicate.:group 'languages to each defface across camldebug.el, caml-font.el, and caml-font-old.el. Behaviour-preserving (faces and defaults unchanged).when-let obsolete (3 uses), and an inaccurate declared minimum Emacs.when-let uses with let + when. Corrected Package-Requires from 25.1 to 26.1 (uses file-local-name, Emacs 26.1) and added a runtime (require 'subr-x) for string-trim. No residual warnings.point-at-bol.point-at-bol with line-beginning-position. A remediation pass cleared the rest: added the lexical-binding cookie (fixing the two unused bindings it exposed), migrated off the obsolete hs-special-modes-alist (31.1) via a boundp-guarded direct set of the hideshow buffer-locals, and made the idle-delay defcustom read whichever of idle-update-delay / which-func-update-delay is bound.declare-function for org-at-heading-p and org-toggle-comment, matching the existing org-in-src-block-p declaration. A remediation pass handled the lexical-binding cookies: the main file gets lexical-binding: t with its two evil-define-key keymap calls switched to the equivalent evil-define-key* function (the macro cannot install bindings under lexical scope); the integration file gets an explicit lexical-binding: nil cookie documenting the single-arg eval macro's dynamic-binding requirement.type (x4) in test/evil-surround-test.el.type argument with an underscore (_type) in the four evil-define-text-object forms; the bodies still reference the macro's own type binding, so behaviour is unchanged.numered-tree and custom-zipper with defvar instead of setq, and de-quoted a docstring. Also corrected Package-Requires from 25.1 to 27.1, since treepy.el uses with-suppressed-warnings (Emacs 27.1).Unused lexical variable warnings in yaml-tests.el.condition-case error variable (use nil) and renamed an unused let* binding to _parsed.when-let obsolete as of Emacs 31.1 (use when-let* or and-let*).merlin--construct-point with let + when. Backward compatible; avoided when-let* (Emacs 26.1) to keep the package's declared 25.1 minimum.if-let obsolete as of Emacs 31.1 (use if-let*).let + if. This is backward compatible and does not bump the minimum version for the fix itself. Also corrected Package-Requires from 24.4 to 25.1, since the package uses defvar-local (introduced in Emacs 25.1).Each fix is scoped to a single warning class in a single package. The change is checked against the package's stated minimum Emacs version, and CI exercises both that minimum and a recent build so regressions show up before a PR is opened. The byte-compile step treats warnings as errors, so a clean run is the success condition.