My GNU Emacs Configuration

What To Expect

I am using:

• Org mode (my main Emacs focus)
• Python (as a hobby programmer, not a professional)
• Cygwin/Babun on Windows
• Spell checking
• Flychecking
• Templating: Yasnippet/yankpad
• File Management: dired
• Typesetting: LaTeX (not active any more)

As of 2020-10-15, I am using following hosts with Emacs:

Operating System	Emacs version
Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)	GNU Emacs 27.0.50
Xubuntu GNU/Linux 20.04 LTS	GNU Emacs 26.3
Xubuntu GNU/Linux 20.04 LTS	GNU Emacs 28.0.50

All are running the same configuration. Some settings are only used on specific platforms though.

I once was using OS X on my personal computer but this is history. Thankfully. Corresponding OS X specific settings are for archiving purposes.

With my current employer, I’m able to use GNU/Linux also for business. Therefore, I don’t have to use Windows at the moment. Thankfully. Corresponding OS X specific settings are for archiving purposes.

Best Navigation Experience

For navigating through my config.org file, please do open it in Emacs so that you are able to collapse and expand its Org mode headings.

Literate Configuration: My Tangling Approach

As of 2017-05, I moved my Emacs configuration format from OrgStruct mode to Org-mode babel + tangle. Originally, I found this process on http://www.holgerschurig.de/en/emacs-init-tangle/ However, I adapted its code and write additional features. I also simplified the file structure, threw away old stuff and added tons of comments for my configuration.

Now, my Emacs configuration is in a file named config.org. My init.el got some nifty Elisp code that converts/tangles (only) the Elisp blocks into the config.el. This generated file is interpreted by my GNU/Emacs on startup.

Please do read my blog article on how tangling of this Emacs configuration works.

Despite the size of my configuration, tangling takes only a fraction of a second and automatically happens on two occasions:

1. When I manually save the config.org file.
2. When Emacs starts and notices that config.org is newer than config.el.

This way, there is no unnecessary tangling process.

This method is great in terms of speed and effort. However, I can’t follow any advanced literate programming aspect such as re-using a snippet multiple times or changing the order of the snippets.

I also added some output functionality to the tangling method. This results in helpful lines in *Messages* like:

[...]
config • my-frame-is-landscape() my-frame-is-portrait() …
The frame is in landscape mode
config • Default split direction according to frame aspect ratio …
config • no-littering …
config • Logging of mode versions …
Wrote /home/vk/.emacs.d/var/log/floyd.txt
Added to /home/vk/.emacs.d/var/log/floyd.txt
config • my-load-local-el() …
config • Server mode …
config • my-system-is-FOOBAR …
config • System-specific paths …
config • Cygwin Paths (Windows) …
config • my-binary-found(binaryname) …
config • my-binary-not-found-list and my-eval-if-binary-or-warn() …
config • Test queries …
»»» I could not locate the PATH-binary for: chrome
config • System-specific browse-url-browser …
»»» I could not locate the PATH-binary for: google-chrome
config • Styling …
config • Themes …
[...]

Update 2022-06-14: If I would follow a more standard way of tangling the el file from the org file, I’d probably take a look at https://github.com/yilkalargaw/org-auto-tangle which is also features on this short video demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3FzMPZm7vY (13min).

In Case You Want to Use My Configuration

In short: don’t.

Not because I don’t like you to have my configuration. The reason is furthermore that it is not easy to accomplish the setup process. This is because I left out some parts like the contrib directory as explained above. Some of my settings are host-specific and/or depend on path variables or external tools.

You should only adopt Elisp code you need and understand to avoid Emacs Bankruptcy.

Therefore: please feel free to look up certain tricks and functions and add it to your configuration. But don’t use my repository as is and expect it to run on your host.

Stuff Which Is Not Contained in the Git Repository

Please take a look at my .gitignore file that contains some things I did not add to this git repository for a variety of reasons but are necessary for my configuration. Most important here are the directories elpa and contrib. The latter one holds a number of external packages:

echo "Last update of this list: $(date)"
echo "------------------------------------------------------"
ls -1 contrib | grep -v 2del | grep -v tar

Last update of this list: Do 15 Okt 2020 13:07:24 CEST
------------------------------------------------------
auto-dictionary-mode
browse-kill-ring.el
command-log-mode
cygwin-mount.el
date2name.el
define-word
dired-details.el
dired-hacks
dired-plus
dired-recent.el
dired-show-readme
edit-server.el
elpygen
emacs-emojify
emacs-git-gutter
emacs-which-key
ews-orgmode
explain-pause-mode
eyebrowse
filetags.el
goto-chg.el
helm-org-contacts
hideshow-orgmode
macrostep
message-outlook.el
move-text
no-littering
ob-restclient.el
orgaggregate
org.el
org-fancy-priorities
org-import-calendar.el
org-linker
org-linker-edna
org-mind-map
org-mind-map_OLD
org-mode
org-notmuch.el
org-protocol-capture-html
org-super-agenda
org-wunderlist
orly
outlookedit.el
outshine
ov
ox-clip
ox-pandoc
ox-rst
ox-slack
pdf-mode
pdf-view-restore
plantuml-mode
pylookup
raml-mode
s.el
setup-cygwin.el
slime-volleyball
sphinx-doc.el
sunrise-commander
synonyms
vcard-mode
wc.el

Some of those packages were added only for testing purpose. Most of them are added to my configuration permanently.

Comments on ELPA, prelude, org-30000101

After migrating most of the package management to use-package, there are much less entries in the folder contrib and there is a new folder called elpa. Of course, I did not include elpa-packages in this git repository.

I also tested Emacs prelude for a couple of days. However, I was not very happy about it due to performance issues, unwanted behavior, and the feeling of losing control.

Please note that org-30000101 is a manually created and installed pseudo-package to prevent the installation of Org-mode via package manager. I am using the Org Maint version from git directly (within my contrib directory).

Useful References

• http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/CategoryDotEmacs
• http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/LoadPath
  • $HOME/.emacs.d/lisp/ seems to be quite common as directory path for installing external packages
  • However, I do prefer “contrib” instead of “lisp” because:
    • my own config (outside of $HOME/.emacs.d/lisp/) is LISP as well
    • “lisp” does not contain the notion of “contributed from other people/projects”

License

The code provided here is licensed under a GPL v3 license: see license.txt for details. Some smaller parts from other authors but included in my configuration might have a different license. Please check the source - it’s included in the comments.