From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Giorgos Keramidas Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Fast emacs? Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 04:13:27 +0300 Organization: SunSITE.dk - Supporting Open source Message-ID: <87vdnzusaw.fsf@kobe.laptop> References: <87ws8fflyl.wl%anselm.helbig+news2009@googlemail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1242610845 11536 80.91.229.12 (18 May 2009 01:40:45 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 01:40:45 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon May 18 03:40:38 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1M5rqI-0008IT-0J for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Mon, 18 May 2009 03:40:38 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:57470 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1M5rqH-0005Mu-EG for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 17 May 2009 21:40:37 -0400 Original-Path: news.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!goblin1!goblin2!goblin.stu.neva.ru!news.net.uni-c.dk!dotsrc.org!filter.dotsrc.org!news.dotsrc.org!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.0.93 (berkeley-unix) Cancel-Lock: sha1:dqQ2vgL7UqBVWsIDdUoPC4yDf2A= Original-Lines: 54 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 79.103.26.88 Original-X-Trace: news.sunsite.dk DXC=\mL]TD0aRDk]OI4DlPLEfeYSB=nbEKnkkl2^feVC_<6fL^Mjgb9LMWQ7e=5iYWc@n6; WG9lRZ?Cf@_]8Xc Original-X-Complaints-To: staff@sunsite.dk Original-Xref: news.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:169270 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:64522 Archived-At: On Sun, 17 May 2009 23:39:30 +0200, Anselm Helbig wrote: >> Note that using the emacsclient is no solution, because this requires >> that a version of Emacs be already running, which often defeats >> the purpose (not only do I have to wait another eternity for this >> new Emacs session to start, but then I have to start the server in >> the new session). >> >> Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated! > - don't use `require', use autoloads: > http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/AutoLoad > - for stuff that can only be configured once a library is loaded, use > `eval-after-load'. > - make a new emacs image with all your favourite libraries already > loaded: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/DumpingEmacs > - start emacs as part of system startup with the --daemon switch: > http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsAsDaemon > - byte-compile the libraries you use; consider byte-compiling your > .emacs if it is huge > - remove extensions you don't use > - measure the progress you make: use the lisp function benchmark-run, > or `time' on the command line. Try adding (kill-emacs) at the end > of your .emacs file to get meaningful results for this. All good points :) I use all of (1) autoloading, (2) --daemon mode for most of my quick editing sessions, (3) I keep trimming my configuration from stuff I have not used for months, and (4) fire up 1-2 different instances besides the background daemon process: one for Gnus-only stuff, and maybe another one for IRC windows. Another neat thing to do is install a light-weight clone like `mg' and use that for very basic editing. I even went so far as to import mg in my own copy of the FreeBSD src/ tree and attach it to the normal build process, so my laptop's custom FreeBSD version now includes: $ which mg /usr/bin/mg This way even when my full Emacs installation is not available (i.e. in single user mode) I can use a lean and fast editor with very familiar key bindings. There are packages for `mg' and other mini clones of Emacs in the package collection of most UNIX-like systems today, so installing one of them is another thing that may be useful to consider.