emacs initialization and updating emacs packages - emacs

Question

I am violating probably the most essential emacs package rule in my .emacs file by loading a specific path to an emacs (workgroups2) package which gets updated. So, everytime a new version is released and when I upgrade I have to edit my emacs file (this is the first line below).
The following is the relevant section of my emacs file. How can I load this without adding a specific path? Let me know what other suggestions you have and thanks!
To be clear the line we are considering is: (add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/elpa/workgroups2-20130915.1509")
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/elpa/workgroups2-20130915.1509")
(require 'workgroups2)
(setq package-enable-at-startup nil)
(package-initialize)
(desktop-save-mode nil) ; save all opened files (or disable it)
(setq wg-prefix-key (kbd "C-c w")
wg-restore-associated-buffers t ; restore all buffers opened in this WG?
wg-use-default-session-file t ; turn off for "emacs --daemon"
wg-default-session-file "~/.emacs.d/emacs_def.wg"
wg-use-faces nil
wg-morph-on nil) ; animation off
;; Keyboard shortcuts - load, save, switch
(global-set-key (kbd "<pause>") 'wg-reload-session)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-S-<pause>") 'wg-save-session)
(global-set-key (kbd "s-z") 'wg-switch-to-workgroup)
(global-set-key (kbd "s-/") 'wg-switch-to-previous-workgroup)
(workgroups-mode 1) ; Activate workgroups
EDIT: If I comment out that line, this is what the debugger gives me:
Debugger entered--Lisp error: (file-error "Cannot open load file" "workgroups2")
require(workgroups2)
eval-buffer(#<buffer *load*> nil "/home/d2b2/.emacs.d/init.el" nil t) ; Reading at buffer position 6014
load-with-code-conversion("/home/d2b2/.emacs.d/init.el" "/home/d2b2/.emacs.d/init.el" t t)
load("/home/d2b2/.emacs.d/init" t t)
#[0 "^H\205\262^# \306=\203^Q^#\307^H\310Q\202;^# \311=\204^^^#\307^H\312Q\202;^#\313\307\314\315#\203*^#\316\202;^#\313\307\314\317#\203:^#\320\nB^R\321\202;^#\316\$
command-line()
normal-top-level()
EDIT: Now commenting out both lines we have the following errors:
Debugger entered--Lisp error: (error ":END: line missing at position 186")
signal(error (":END: line missing at position 186"))
error(":END: line missing at position %s" 186)
org-flag-drawer(t)
org-cycle-hide-drawers(all)
org-set-startup-visibility()
org-mode()
desktop-restore-file-buffer("/home/d2b2/.todo" ".todo" nil)
#[nil "^H \236A\206^H^#\305\n^K\f#\207" [desktop-buffer-major-mode desktop-buffer-mode-handlers desktop-buffer-file-name desktop-buffer-name desktop-buffer-misc deskt$
desktop-create-buffer(206 "/home/d2b2/.todo" ".todo" org-mode (workgroups-mode) 1 (nil nil) nil nil ((buffer-file-coding-system . undecided-unix) (truncate-lines . t)))
eval-buffer(#<buffer *load*> nil "/home/d2b2/.emacs.desktop" nil t) ; Reading at buffer position 813
load-with-code-conversion("/home/d2b2/.emacs.desktop" "/home/d2b2/.emacs.desktop" t t)
load("/home/d2b2/.emacs.desktop" t t t)
desktop-read()
#[nil "\304\211^X \235\203^O^#\305^H \"^Q\306^R)\n\205^Z^#\307 \210\310\211^S\207" [key command-line-args desktop-save-mode inhibit-startup-screen "--no-desktop"$
run-hooks(after-init-hook)
command-line()
normal-top-level()

Answer 1

Make sure, that package-directory-list includes your path to elpa ~/.emacs.d/elpa.
Then package.el initializes some package, it adds name of package to
package-activated-list and pushes package directory
(e.g. ~/.emacs.d/elpa/workgroups2-20130915.1509) to load-path
automatically.
For me it works as usual, I don't add any specific pathes for packages manually.
The value of package-enable-at-startup is t in my config.
package-enable-at-startup doc:
"Whether to activate installed packages when Emacs starts...If the
value of package-enable-at-startup is nil, you can type M-x
package-initialize to activate the package system at any time."
(require 'workgroups2) is before package initialization in your config, try to move it below.