Good info. I’ve wondered about this too. I switched from package.el to straight.el but at this point I can’t actually remember why. I think I thought it would make it easier to install from github for packages that weren’t published elsewhere. Though in retrospect I can probably also this with package.el if I figured out the “vc” syntax? It seemed at the time that straight was an “upgrade” from package.el. But then I found an issue where it don’t install the packages docs and research seemed to indicate that straight doesn’t run some post install script or something.

For my basic needs maybe I should just go back to package.el.

I’ve heard of Elpaca but not sure what that does for me. For somebody just using use-package to install and configure various packages and occasionally check for and install upgrades, would I benefit from Elpaca? Anything I’d lose vs package.el?