My emacs config.

Below are the dependencies needed to compile emacs from source:

• automake, gcc, make: to build Emacs from source
• imagemagick7: for imagemagick integration
• librsvg: for rendering SVG files in emacs
• mailutils: for mailutils integration in emacs
• gnutls: for security
• gtk3: library for Gtk3
• dbus: library for integration of dbus with emacs
• texinfo: needed for documentation
• libpng, libjpeg, libxpm, giflib, libtiff: media dependencies

These are optional, but will definitely improve the experience for using emacs. I recommend installing all the below tools:

• CMake: needed for vterm.el package
• libvterm: needed for vterm.el package
• watchexec: needed for watching for file changes for packages and running build to update the packages. This is needed for straight.el
• direnv: for getting direnv integration with Emacs
• ripgrep: for faster search integration in Emacs
• fd: integrate fd into emacs for faster file searches
• poppler: PDF rendering library. Needed for pdf-tools

• Install Emacs28 from source by running:

  git clone --depth 1 master https://github.com/emacs-mirror/emacs
  cd emacs
  sh autogen.sh
  ./configure --with-modules --with-rsvg --with-dbus \
       --without-pop --with-xft --with-xml2 --with-libotf --with-mailutils \
       --without-toolkit-scroll-bars --without-xaw3d \
        CFLAGS="-O3 -mtune=native -march=native -fomit-frame-pointer"
  # replce -jX, X is the number of cores in your machine
  make -j8
  make install
      

  • Optionally, you can also compile emacs native compilation branch, like so

    git clone --depth 1 master https://github.com/emacs-mirror/emacs -b feature/native-comp
    cd emacs
    sh autogen.sh
    ./configure --with-modules --with-rsvg --with-dbus \
         --without-pop --with-xft --with-xml2 --with-libotf --with-mailutils \
         --with-nativecomp --without-toolkit-scroll-bars --without-xaw3d \
          CFLAGS="-O3 -mtune=native -march=native -fomit-frame-pointer"
    # replce -jX, X is the number of cores in your machine
    make -j8
    make install  
            

    • Add the below line to early-init.el

      ;; comment out this line if you are not using emacs native compilation branch
      ;; native compile elisp files as they are loaded
      (setq comp-deferred-compilation t)
                  

  • Enable and run the systemd service for emacs:

    systemctl --user enable emacs --now
            

  • Change the emacs.desktop file to launch emacsclient, its located in /usr/local/share/applications/emacs.desktop:

    [Desktop Entry]
    Name=Emacs
    GenericName=Text Editor
    Comment=Edit text
    MimeType=text/english;text/plain;text/x-makefile;text/x-c++hdr;text/x-c++src;text/x-chdr;text/x-csrc;text/x-java;text/x-moc;text/x-pascal;text/x-tcl;text/x-tex;application/x-shellscript;text/x-c;text/x-c++;
    Exec=/usr/local/bin/emacsclient -c -a '' %F
    Icon=emacs
    Type=Application
    Terminal=false
    Categories=Development;TextEditor;
    StartupWMClass=Emacs
    Keywords=Text;Editor;
            

  • Make emacs your default text editor by adding the below lines to your .zshenv file:

    export EDITOR="emacsclient -n -a \"\""
    export VISUAL="emacsclient -n -a \"\""
            

  • Setup handy aliases for emacs by adding the below in your .aliases file:

    alias ec='emacsclient -nc -a ""'
    alias eg='emacsclient -n -a ""'
    alias et='TERM=xterm-256color emacsclient -t -a ""'
            

    • Now you can open emacs by conecting to the emacs daemon using emacsclient using: ec
    • You can open a file on the existing emacs frame by: eg file-name
    • Emacs configuration for vterm integration:

      function vterm_printf() {
      	if [ -n "$TMUX" ]; then
      		# tell tmux to pass the escape sequences through
      		# (Source: http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.terminal-emulators.tmux.user/1324)
      		printf "\ePtmux;\e\e]%s\007\e\\" "$1"
      	elif [ "${TERM%%-*}" = "screen" ]; then
      		# GNU screen (screen, screen-256color, screen-256color-bce)
      		printf "\eP\e]%s\007\e\\" "$1"
      	else
      		printf "\e]%s\e\\" "$1"
      	fi
      }
      
      if [ -n "$INSIDE_EMACS" ]; then
      	vterm_prompt_end() {
      		vterm_printf "51;A$(whoami)@$(hostname):$(pwd)"
      	}
      	PROMPT=$PROMPT'%{$(vterm_prompt_end)%}'
      fi
      
      if [[ "$INSIDE_EMACS" = 'vterm' ]]; then
      	alias clear='vterm_printf "51;Evterm-clear-scrollback";tput clear'
      fi
        
                  

• Ivy as the preferred completion frontend for emacs.
• Very minimal theme with no toolbar, no scrollbars, no line numbers and use Nord theme.
• Tested to work with Emacs 27 and Emacs 28 on Linux and MacOS.