GNU ELPA

Spec sheet

What it does

GNU ELPA is the default package repository for GNU Emacs and distributes Emacs Lisp extensions separately from the core editor.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Purpose

GNU ELPA is the default package repository for GNU Emacs.Read 4 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Security

The contribution page warns that a package can pose a security risk if its maintainer’s repository access is compromised.Read 4 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Support

The site directs users to report bugs with `M-x report-emacs-bug` and suggests the help-gnu-emacs mailing list for help.Read 4 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Archive format

An archive is a web-accessible directory containing single-file Lisp packages or tar files with multiple files.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gnu.org

Build and releases

The build server regularly synchronizes package repositories and releases a new version when a commit changes the package’s Version header.Read 4 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Build extensibility

Package specifications support custom documentation files, NEWS files, build targets, shell commands, version maps and branch selection.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Completion integrations

The cape package provides completion-at-point backends and adapters for Company, Corfu and Emacs's default completion UI.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Contribution channel

Prospective contributors are asked to email emacs-devel with a package description, public repository link and preferred GNU or NonGNU archive.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Contributor requirement

All significant past and present contributors to GNU ELPA packages must sign the FSF copyright assignment.Read 4 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Copyright assignment

Significant past and present contributors to GNU ELPA packages must assign copyright to the Free Software Foundation.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Dependency handling

Emacs automatically downloads required dependencies when installing a package, stopping if a required dependency is unavailable.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gnu.org

Development archive

GNU ELPA publishes a separate GNU-devel ELPA archive for development or bleeding-edge package versions.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Free software criterion

A package’s core functionality must work on a system using only free software, subject to case-by-case exceptions.Read 4 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Independent praise: built-in ecosystem

Emacs Redux highlights that GNU ELPA packages such as cl-lib, eldoc and xref originated with Emacs development and integrate closely with the editor.Read 15 Oct 2026 · emacsredux.com

Independent praise: official status

Emacs Redux describes GNU ELPA as the official Emacs package repository and notes that some packages are bundled with Emacs.Read 15 Oct 2026 · emacsredux.com

Independent security observation

The Emacs manual says archive packages should be trusted because installing them can run code with the user's permissions, and recommends cryptographic signing to improve security.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gnu.org

Install location

Installed packages are placed under the package-user-dir directory, which defaults to ~/.emacs.d/elpa/.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gnu.org

Installation command

Users can browse and install packages from inside Emacs with M-x list-packages.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

License policy

Submitted packages must use a GPL-compatible license, with GPLv3 or later preferred.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Limit: contributor burden

Emacs Redux reports that copyright paperwork, the ELPA repository workflow and the Emacs bug tracker discourage many outside contributors.Read 15 Oct 2026 · emacsredux.com

Limit: outages

Reddit users reported GNU ELPA and related GNU sites being unreachable for hours during a June 2024 incident, with packet loss and 443 errors.Read 15 Oct 2026 · reddit.com

Limit: package freshness complaint

A Reddit user reported that an older Magit package in ELPA caused compatibility problems and that switching to MELPA resolved the installation issue.Read 15 Oct 2026 · reddit.com

Limit: refresh hangs

A Reddit report describes package-refresh-contents hanging indefinitely on Debian 11 while accessing GNU and NonGNU ELPA, with IPv6 or site connectivity suspected.Read 15 Oct 2026 · reddit.com

Limit: smaller catalog

Emacs Redux reported GNU ELPA hosting about 280 packages at the time, far fewer than MELPA's roughly 5,000 packages.Read 15 Oct 2026 · emacsredux.com

Local hosting

The repository documentation describes deploying a locally hosted archive by generating archive files and serving the archive directory over HTTP.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Maintainer compromise risk

GNU ELPA's contribution page states that a compromised package maintainer repository can create a security risk for users.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Maker headquarters

The Free Software Foundation lists its mailing address in Boston, Massachusetts 02196.Read 15 Oct 2026 · fsf.org

Maker history

The Free Software Foundation was created in 1985 as a tax-exempt charity supporting free software development.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gnu.org

Mirror cadence

The independent emacsmirror repository describes itself as a GNU ELPA mirror updated hourly.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Notable repository date

The mirrored GNU ELPA README is dated 2026-01-12 and identifies the repository as containing archive sources, deployment scripts and auxiliary files.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

OAuth2 package

The oauth2 package implements OAuth 2.0 and exposes functions for obtaining, storing and refreshing access tokens.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Org package

The Org package provides notes, document authoring, computational notebooks, literate programming, to-do lists and project planning in plain text.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Package access

Users can browse packages or use `M-x list-packages` in Emacs.Read 4 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Package archives setting

Emacs selects archives through the package-archives variable, whose default list includes GNU ELPA and NonGNU ELPA.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gnu.org

Package browsing

The archive publishes a web index listing package names, versions, descriptions and ranking percentages.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Package installation

Packages can be installed in Emacs with `package-install` or `list-packages`.Read 4 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Package metadata

Individual package pages can show descriptions, maintainers, upstream websites, dependencies, release files, news and manuals.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Package pages

Each accepted package gets a page that can include its description, recent releases, changelog preview, and rendered manual.Read 4 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Package scope

The archive lists packages with versions and descriptions.Read 4 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Package signing

The GNU package archive public key is shipped with Emacs in etc/package-keyring.gpg for signature checking.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gnu.org

Project package

The project package supplies generic infrastructure for detecting projects and listing project files, ignored paths and external roots.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Security exposure

The documentation warns that installed packages can execute arbitrary code with the installing user's permissions.Read 15 Oct 2026 · gnu.org

Source layout

The public repository keeps package specifications on the main branch, package code in package branches and deployment scripts in an elpa-admin branch.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Submission

Package submissions are sent by email to the emacs-devel mailing list with a description, public Git repository link, and preferred archive.Read 4 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Submission requirements

The build system requires package conventions including a version number, dependency declarations and an author or maintainer email address.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elpa.gnu.org

Plans and prices

Every GNU ELPA plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

• Package Registries#8 of 288.6