Problem with init.el file on Ubuntu 14.04 legacy with emacs 27.2

[IstiCusi]

Dear Dave,
I am totally new to emacs, like it, but rush into a problem.
I tried directly your script and run into the following error message:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warning (initialization): An error occurred while loading ‘~/.emacs.d/init.el’:

error: Package ‘use-package-’ is unavailable

To ensure normal operation, you should investigate and remove the
cause of the error in your initialization file. Start Emacs with
the ‘--debug-init’ option to view a complete error backtrace.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

while such runs (first line fixes tls issue on the old machine):

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

;; ---- > (debug-on-entry 'package-initialize) < ----

;; ==========================================================================
;; ======================= Fix for ubuntu 14.04 ============================
;; ==========================================================================

(setq gnutls-algorithm-priority "NORMAL:-VERS-TLS1.0")

;; ==========================================================================
;; ======================= Changed key bindings ============================
;; ==========================================================================

;; Esc quit prompts (as ctrl-g did)

(global-set-key (kbd "") 'keyboard-escape-quit)

;; ==========================================================================
;; ====================== Standard emacs settings ===========================
;; ==========================================================================

;; Copy from linux buffer

(setq x-select-enable-clipboard t)

;; Core simplifications

(setq inhibit-startup-message t)

(scroll-bar-mode -1) ; Disable visible scrollbar
(tool-bar-mode -1) ; Disable the toolbar
(tooltip-mode -1) ; Disable tooltips
(set-fringe-mode 10) ; Give some breathing room
(menu-bar-mode -1) ; Disable the menu bar
(setq visible-bell t) ; visible bell
(column-number-mode)
(global-display-line-numbers-mode t) ; line numbering

;; Font settings

(defvar efs/default-font-size 180)
(defvar efs/default-variable-font-size 180)
(set-face-attribute 'default nil :font "Fira Code Retina" :height efs/default-font-size)
(set-face-attribute 'fixed-pitch nil :font "Fira Code Retina" :height efs/default-font-size)

;; Transparent window

(defvar efs/frame-transparency '(97 . 97))
(set-frame-parameter (selected-frame) 'alpha efs/frame-transparency)
(add-to-list 'default-frame-alist `(alpha . ,efs/frame-transparency))
(set-frame-parameter (selected-frame) 'fullscreen 'maximized)
(add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(fullscreen . maximized))

;; Styling ;-)

(set-background-color "#FFF6FD")

;; ==========================================================================
;; ======================== Plugin emacs settings ===========================
;; ==========================================================================

; --- Provide the melpa packages

(require 'package)

(setq package-archives '(("org" . "https://orgmode.org/elpa/")
("elpa" . "https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/")))

(add-to-list 'package-archives
'("melpa-stable" . "https://stable.melpa.org/packages/") t)

(unless package-archive-contents
(package-refresh-contents))

; --- Usage package

(require 'use-package)
(setq use-package-always-ensure t)

(use-package auto-package-update
:custom
(auto-package-update-interval 7)
(auto-package-update-prompt-before-update t)
(auto-package-update-hide-results t)
:config
(auto-package-update-maybe)
(auto-package-update-at-time "09:00"))
(custom-set-variables
'(package-selected-packages '(auto-package-update use-package)))
(custom-set-faces
)

=======================================================

Two questions I have:

a) Why is your init.el not running in my settings (I tried also on a debian virtual machine)
b) How can I stop emacs in each startup to contact the servers

Could you have a short look into this, if you have time ... would be extremly nice

Thanks a lot and cheers,
Stephan

[ThibaultGH]

Hey @IstiCusi,
I'm maybe 80% sure that you init.el files just misses the following lines:
;; Initialize use-package on non-Linux platforms (unless (package-installed-p 'use-package) (package-install 'use-package))

Which basically says "if use-package is not installed, use package-install to install it"
Like so you should not get this error message when running emacs now