From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Dan Anderson Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Cool and Useful LISP for the .emacs file Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2003 11:54:55 -0500 Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <1068224095.24924.9.camel@hades.syr-24-59-76-83.twcny.rr.com> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1068235222 9346 80.91.224.253 (7 Nov 2003 20:00:22 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2003 20:00:22 +0000 (UTC) Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Nov 07 21:00:20 2003 Return-path: Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1AICmK-0001fQ-00 for ; Fri, 07 Nov 2003 21:00:20 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1AIB5k-0004mV-So for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 07 Nov 2003 13:12:16 -0500 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.24) id 1AIAqx-0002uh-DN for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 07 Nov 2003 12:56:59 -0500 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.24) id 1AIAqP-0002nK-Jt for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 07 Nov 2003 12:56:56 -0500 Original-Received: from [24.59.76.83] (helo=hades.syr-24-59-76-83.twcny.rr.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1AIAqJ-0002mO-Rq for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 07 Nov 2003 12:56:19 -0500 Original-Received: by hades.syr-24-59-76-83.twcny.rr.com (Postfix, from userid 501) id F065E4B2; Fri, 7 Nov 2003 11:54:55 -0500 (EST) Original-To: Gareth Rees In-Reply-To: X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.4-8mdk X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:13921 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:13921 > Here's my cool tip: > > Delete your .emacs! > > This means that you can go to a new machine, run Emacs on it, and it > works just the same as on your old machine! No more confusion over > non-default keybindings, unusual settings for variables, bizarre mode > hooks, etc. And when you find a problem you know it's really to do with > Emacs and not with some "cool" trick you copied out of someone else's > .emacs without understanding it. Start emacs with -q when you have a problem. It sets it to default mode. If you can only reproduce the problem when using your .emacs you can go about debugging your .emacs file. Of course, some people are probably saying "but debugging LISP is hard!" Well, fear not. Remove the last thing you inserted. It's probably what's causing the screw up. (Or restore the backup you made of your .emacs from the last time you edited it. Didn't make one? Try loading ~/.emacs~) I'd also like to point out that many of us who use Emacs and customize it until we couldn't think of another feature to code use Emacs for coding. Learning LISP is not hard and we are certainly qualified to make changes to the .emacs I'd also like to point out that your site administrator probably has created a site lisp file similar to the .emacs to customize emacs for your company or organization. That or you've never needed to install a single .el file. (Come on, not everything is stock). Plus, if you've ever changed anything in Emacs and hit the save button you probably /have/ created machine generated in your .emacs to save your settings. -Dan