The basic init.el file loads my various language modes, and some other minor modes (e.g., tempbuf-mode). It also loads a bunch of files from the "emacs.d/my_lisp" directory which contains various overrides and new functionality attached to existing modes (e.g., icicles customization, assorted one-off functions I want to add to modes). Lastly, it loads a bunch more files from my emacs.d/lisp directory which implement custom functionality.

For example, the current emacs M-x eshell doesn't behave the way I like. I often want multiple shells, so I've build a "ring of shells" functionality: f6 cycles through the ring of shells, C-f6 creates new shell window in the ring. I did something similar with window configurations.

Also, the emacs.d stores all modes which I use regularly. So when I migrate to a new computer, all I need to do is

    darcs get me@oldbox:emacs.d

For now I just pushed a new v1.1.0 release that automatically detects and supports ~/.emacs.el and ~/.emacs.d/init.el in addition to ~/.emacs as configuration file locations.

That should fix this problem for most people for now although I agree that your suggestion is probably more robust overall.

That said, played with this some today and I see that I can get my startup down to about 5 seconds on my old netbook. Not too bad, all told. (This computer is hilariously slow.)

No guarantees this will work on xemacs, older versions of GNU emacs, or whatever, but here's what I use (some of which is adapted from the excellent Emacs wiki (http://emacswiki.org):

    (push "~/.emacs.d/" load-path)          ; my init files
    (push "~/.emacs.d/elisp/" load-path)    ; other elisp pkgs
    
    ; byte-compile files in ~/.emacs.d/ whenever we change them
     (defun byte-compile-init-files ()
       (when (and
              (string-match "/\.emacs.d/" buffer-file-name)
              (string-match "\.el" buffer-file-name))
         (when (file-exists-p (concat buffer-file-name ".elc"))
           (delete-file (concat buffer-file-name ".elc")))
         (byte-compile-file buffer-file-name)
         (if (get-buffer (concat (buffer-name) "c")) ;.el -> .elc
             (kill-buffer (concat (buffer-name) "c")))))
    (add-hook 'after-save-hook 'byte-compile-init-files)
    
    ; don't disable commands or mess with my init, grr grr
    (setq disabled-command-function 'nil)
    
    (defun my-load-wrap (fname)
      "Compile stuff if the .el file is newer than the .elc, and load."
      (let* ((fpath "~/.emacs.d/")
             (fn (concat fpath fname ".el")))
        (if (not (file-readable-p fn)) 
            (message (concat "File " fname " does not exist!")))
        (if (or 
             (not (file-readable-p (concat fn "c")))
             (newer-file (file-last-mod-time fn)              ;some .el
                         (file-last-mod-time (concat fn "c"))))     ;compiled
            (byte-compile-file fn t)     ;compile and load
            (load fn t))))               ;load with failsafe
    
    (my-load-wrap "my-options")                   ; general options
    (my-load-wrap "my-functions")                 ; my misc functions
    (my-load-wrap "my-server")                    ; emacs-server stuff
    (my-load-wrap "my-calendar")                  ; cal/diary options
    (my-load-wrap "my-bindings")                  ; and lots of 'em
    (my-load-wrap "my-packages")                  ; misc packages
    (my-load-wrap "my-text")                      ; text mode hooks
    (my-load-wrap "my-programming")               ; python, c, lisp, ocmal, etc
    (my-load-wrap "my-web")                       ; for browsing w/ w3m
    (my-load-wrap "my-irc")                       ; rcirc stuff
    (my-load-wrap "my-skel")                      ; skeletons, boo

    ; load my-aesthetic last, so if there's an error the
    ; faces don't get set, and to ensure faces from all packages exist
    (my-load-wrap "my-aesthetic")                 ; faces, interface stuff

At some point I set up auto-insert for a variety of files, and the howto I found used the directory .autoinsert, and at the moment that's actually where my elisp that isn't in my .emacs lives. It's a little hacked together and ad hoc, but not worth my time to fix. Nowadays I've customized everything I want to, and mostly am installing thirdparty packages.

Unfortunately there is a misconception that you need a 10kloc init.el to be productive. Worse still are the opinionated configurations targeted at newbs.

Only fuck with your init.el if you really want/need to.

I've had the same init.el for almost a decade.

  emacs -nw -Q

  (custom-set-variables
   '(indent-tabs-mode nil)
   '(inhibit-startup-screen t)
   '(menu-bar-mode nil)
   '(show-paren-mode t)
   '(tool-bar-mode nil))