elpa-mirror (v2.1.1)

Create local Emacs package repository so package upgrade never breaks.

Only installed packages will be packaged into the local repository.

Please note:

CLI program tar is required
Since v2.1.1, only Emacs 24.4 and higher versions are supported

Why

Only way to get a setup never breaks because Emacs Lisp compile file (*.elc) from one version of Emacs might not be compatible with other version of Emacs
15 seconds to install 115 packages
The repository could be hosted on USB/Dropbox/GitHub, so you can install packages behind corp firewall
Tested with Emacs v24.4, v24.5, v25.3, v26, v27 on OSX/Cygwin/Windows/Linux

Install

Download elpa-mirror.el to somewhere (say “~/.emacs.d/site-lisp/elpa-mirror”)
Add below code into your ~/.emacs,

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/site-lisp/elpa-mirror")
(require 'elpa-mirror)

If you use native Windows Emacs, you need install Cygwin or MSYS2.

Installation is optional, you can running elpa-mirror.el directly as a independent script. Check the section “Tips”.

Usage

M-x elpamr-create-mirror-for-installed to create local repository.

To use the repository. Say it’s “~/myelpa”, insert below code into your ~/.emacs,

# myelpa is the ONLY repository now, dont forget trailing slash in the directory
(setq package-archives '(("myelpa" . "~/myelpa/")))

To update an existing local repository after installing new packages from elsewhere, simply rerun the M-x elpamr-create-mirror-for-installed command again.

BTW, you can run elpa-mirror.el as a independent script out of Emacs. Check “Create repository in Shell” in “Tips” section.

Tips

Change output directory,

(setq elpamr-default-output-directory "~/myelpa")

Create repository in Shell

You don’t need install elpa-mirror if running it in shell,

mkdir -p ~/myelpa && emacs --batch -l ~/.emacs.d/init.el -l ~/any-directory-you-prefer/elpa-mirror.el --eval='(setq elpamr-default-output-directory "~/myelpa")' --eval='(elpamr-create-mirror-for-installed)'

Repository on Dropbox

Insert below code into .emacs:

;; all-to-list will not override default elpa.
;; So now you have two repositories.
;; One is GNU elpa. Another is myelpa
(add-to-list 'package-archives
             '("myelpa" . "https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/858862/myelpa/"))

Repository on GitHub

My repository is https://github.com/redguardtoo/myelpa.