* lisp/emacs-lisp/package.el: New "external" package status

An external package is any installed package that's not built-in
and not from `package-user-dir', which usually means it's from an
entry in `package-directory-list'.  They are treated much like
built-in packages, in that they cannot be through the Package Menu
deleted and are not considered for upgrades.

(package-desc-status): Identify if a package is installed outside
`package-user-dir'.
(package-menu--print-info-simple)
(package-menu--status-predicate): Add support for it.

* etc/NEWS: Document it.

1 files changed, 11 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS
index 3ab1f4b963d..48c3a2a5d2e 100644
--- a/etc/NEWS
+++ b/etc/NEWS
@@ -255,6 +255,17 @@ by default at least in Debian, for security reasons).
 
 ** package.el
 
+*** New "external" package status.
+An external package is any installed package that's not built-in and
+not from `package-user-dir', which usually means it's from an entry in
+`package-directory-list'.  They are treated much like built-in
+packages, in that they cannot be through the Package Menu deleted and
+are not considered for upgrades.
+
+The effect, is that a user can manually place a specific version of a
+package inside `package-directory-list' and the Package Menu will
+always respect that.
+
 *** If a package is available on multiple archives and one has higher
 priority (as per `package-archive-priorities') only that one is
 listed. This can be configured with `package-menu-hide-low-priority'.