My computer configurations

6th September, 2020 – 25th March, 2025

Introduction

This marks the start of a new attempt to move my configuration into a literate org mode file. Previously, each program had its own configuration file. Now, many still do, but i have put my emacs configuration here, split into separate code blocks on section headings.

My intention is for this document to be properly literate. By this i mean that it is not simply a linear configuration with special markup for comments. Rather, related aspects should be grouped together to form a narrative, and tangled into one another to produce a document the computer can cope with. For this, i am taking particular inspiration from Oleksii's configurations.

Boilerplate

I'm not sure how important the first is, but i don't use any xresources, so i don't see any reason not to disable it. The second is more important though. It stops emacs from trying to resize the frame when i change the font or something. This is useful when we are starting up, as gui manipulation is quite an expensive operation.

(setopt inhibit-x-resources t)

(setopt frame-inhibit-implied-resize t)

(push '(fullscreen . maximized) default-frame-alist)
;; (push '(internal-border-width . 16) default-frame-alist)
(push '(menu-bar-lines . 0) default-frame-alist)
(push '(tool-bar-lines . 0) default-frame-alist)
(push '(horizontal-scroll-bars) default-frame-alist)

Previously, i was using apt to download all my emacs packages. Now i have decided to do package management from within emacs again, because debian is hopelessly out of date and only a small number of emacs packages are in the repositories. I wish that package management could be handled in a single place, but i'm otherwise too content with debian to switch to another operating system that does a better job here.

(setq package-archives '(("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/")
                         ("gnu" . "https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/")
                         ("nongnu" . "https://elpa.nongnu.org/nongnu/")))

Getting started

(add-to-list 'load-path (expand-file-name (concat user-emacs-directory "site-lisp")))

(add-to-list 'exec-path "/home/noa/.config/Scripts")

(use-package use-package
  :custom
  (use-package-compute-statistics t)
  (use-package-enable-imenu-support t))

;; Give me stats on garbage collection and startup time
(add-hook 'emacs-startup-hook
	  #'(lambda ()
	      (message (format "Initialised in %s seconds with %s garbage collections." (emacs-init-time) gcs-done))))

Interface enhancements

(setopt tab-bar-format '(tab-bar-format-history
                         tab-bar-format-tabs
                         tab-bar-separator
                         tab-bar-format-add-tab
                         tab-bar-format-align-right
                         tab-bar-format-global)
      tab-bar-mode nil)

(setopt repeat-mode t)

Currently, i use the gnome desktop environment, emacs, and firefox for most tasks. Gnome needs very little configuration to be usable. Emacs, on the other hand, needs a lot of tlc.

(setopt imenu-flatten 'prefix)

Getting rid of superfluous colour

I prefer to avoid coloured output and syntax highlighting. Part of the reason is because i think it looks calmer and less overwhelming. Another reason is because it is difficult to read coloured text on e-ink displays.

(use-package tubthumping-theme
  :load-path "~/Documents/Projects/Tubthumping/"
  :config
  (load-theme 'tubthumping t))

For terminals in general, we can encourage programs to avoid using colour with the NO_COLOR environment variable. Not everything supports it, but it's a good starting point.

(setenv "NO_COLOR")

Using a proportional font is the right way to do things, but emacs is very old and comes from a time before the innovation of legibility. As a result, there are some things that require a monospaced font, so i set one here.

(custom-set-faces
 '(default ((t (:family "Noto Sans Mono" :height 120))))
 '(variable-pitch ((t (:family "Noto Sans" :height 120))))
 '(fixed-pitch ((t (:family "Noto Sans Mono" :height 120)))))

Previously, i used a heavily modified version of fixed pitch mode to use a variable pitch font by default, and switch to monospace when necessary. However, i have revised that decision, as my list of exceptions kept getting longer, and emacs has a variable pitch mode built in, which does the opposite.

(use-package face-remap
  :hook
  ((text-mode . variable-pitch-mode)
   (prog-mode . variable-pitch-mode)))

I also noticed problems with hanzi being displayed in emacs as their Korean variants. I read simplified chinese, so i want to ensure that han characters are displayed using a font designed for simplified chinese.

(when (display-graphic-p)
  (dolist (charset '(han cjk-misc))
    (set-fontset-font t charset (font-spec :family "Noto Serif CJK SC"))))

In a similar vein, i want to set my preferred emoji fonts. The default noto fonts have coloured emojis, but there is a separate font which has monochrome emojis, and i also set the FSD emoji font to be used whenever it has a supported emoji.

;; Prioritise fsd and noto emoji over coloured variants
(when (and (display-graphic-p)
           (member "FSD Emoji" (font-family-list)))
  (set-fontset-font t 'emoji (font-spec :family "FSD Emoji") nil 'prepend))
(when (and (display-graphic-p)
           (member "Noto Emoji" (font-family-list)))
  (set-fontset-font t 'emoji (font-spec :family "Noto Emoji") nil 'append))

We want to boot straight into the scratch buffer when starting emacs.

(setopt inhibit-startup-screen t)

Here, we set up how we want the mouse to behave.

(setopt mouse-yank-at-point t)
(setopt mouse-drag-and-drop-region nil)
(setopt mouse-prefer-closest-glyph t)

;; Shift click to select region with the mouse (https://christiantietze.de/posts/2022/07/shift-click-in-emacs-to-select/)
(global-set-key (kbd "S-<down-mouse-1>") #'mouse-set-mark)
;; Doesn't work great with a proportional font but could still be useful.
(global-set-key (kbd "C-S-<down-mouse-1>") #'mouse-drag-region-rectangle)

It is often useful to be able to run a command while i am already in the process of running a command in the minibuffer. This is rarely two extended commands; usually it is completion.

(setopt minibuffer-depth-indicate-mode t)

(setopt savehist-mode t)

(require 'vertico)
(setopt vertico-mode t)
(setopt vertico-resize nil) ;; don't shrink when there are less candidates
(add-hook 'rfn-eshadow-update-overlay #'vertico-directory-tidy)

Annotations for completing-read

Taken from configuration for the vertico stack: add prompt indicator to `completing-read-multiple'. We display [CRM<separator>], e.g., [CRM,] if the separator is a comma.

(defun crm-indicator (args)
  (cons (format "[CRM%s] %s"
		(replace-regexp-in-string
		 "\\`\\[.*?]\\*\\|\\[.*?]\\*\\'" ""
		 crm-separator)
		(car args))
	(cdr args)))
(advice-add #'completing-read-multiple :filter-args #'crm-indicator)

(require 'marginalia)
(setopt marginalia-mode t)

Basic matches candidates with the same text before the point, and the text after the point as a substring. Orderless takes any number of space separated components and displays candidates that much every component in any order.

(require 'orderless)
(setopt completion-styles '(orderless basic))
(setopt completion-category-overrides '((file (styles basic partial-completion))))

Looking up words

Emacs has built in support for interfacing with dictd. With dictd and some dictionaries installed on debian, this works fine out of the box.

Unfortunately, dictionaries in this format tend to be hard wrapped and there isn't a lot of coverage outside of English.

(require 'dictionary)
(setopt dictionary-search-interface 'help
        dictionary-default-dictionary "*")

(Offline) web browsing

Despite the name, eww is a delight to use for text-heavy websites.

(use-package browse-url
  :defer t
  :custom
  (browse-url-browser-function 'noa/record-url)
  (browse-url-secondary-browser-function 'browse-url-default-browser))

(use-package shr
  :defer t
  :custom
  (shr-use-colors nil) ;; I like the colours i already have set
  (shr-max-width nil) ;; Don't insert hard linebreaks to wrap paragraphs
  (shr-bullet " • ")
  (shr-discard-aria-hidden t))

(use-package eww
  :defer t

  :custom
  ;; Better buffer naming for eww buffers.  See the help for a function which gives the page title and the url.
  (eww-auto-rename-buffer 'title))

Goto address mode makes urls and email address in a buffer clickable. I want these clickable links to look like links, because that's what they are. The two mouse face variables are what face is used on hover, which at the moment i ignore. It might also be worth setting them to 'highlight.

(use-package goto-addr
  :hook (after-init . global-goto-address-mode))

Programming

(use-package flymake
  :hook (prog-mode . flymake-mode))

;; If i write a script, i will always run chmod +x after saving it.  This command means i don't have to do that.
(add-hook 'after-save-hook #'executable-make-buffer-file-executable-if-script-p)

(use-package sly
  :disabled t
  :if (executable-find "sbcl")
  :ensure t
  :commands 'sly
  :custom ((inferior-lisp-program (executable-find "sbcl"))
           (common-lisp-hyperspec-root "file:///usr/share/doc/hyperspec/"))
  :mode ((rx (or ".lisp" ".cl") eos) . common-lisp-mode))

(use-package ediff
  :defer t
  :custom
  (ediff-window-setup-function 'ediff-setup-windows-plain)
  (ediff-split-window-function 'split-window-horizontally))

(use-package elastic-indent
  :disabled t
  :hook (prog-mode . elastic-indent-mode))

;; Change the width of tab characters within lines to make subsequent lines form a table-like layout.
(use-package elastic-table
  :disabled t
  :hook (prog-mode-hook . elastic-table-mode))

;; Indenting lisp with tabs is horrible.  H/t acdw
(defvar space-indent-modes '(emacs-lisp-mode
                             lisp-interaction-mode
                             lisp-mode
                             scheme-mode
                             python-mode)
  "Modes to indent with spaces, not tabs.")
(add-hook 'prog-mode-hook
          (defun indent-tabs-mode-maybe ()
            (setq indent-tabs-mode
                  (if (apply #'derived-mode-p space-indent-modes) nil t))))

;; Scroll along with text in compilation mode, and stop scrolling at the first error.
(use-package compile
  :defer t
  :custom
  (compilation-scroll-output 'first-error))

Writing prose

;; Use abbrev as a simple autocorrect mode.  M-x list-abbrevs for stats.
;; Check  ~/.config/emacs/abbrev_defs to update any mistakes
(use-package abbrev
  :hook (text-mode . abbrev-mode))

(use-package flyspell
  :hook (text-mode . flyspell-mode)
  :hook (prog-mode . flyspell-prog-mode)
  :custom
  (flyspell-abbrev-p t))

;; Unfill commands
(defun unfill-paragraph ()
  "Takes a multi-line paragraph and makes it into a single line of text."
  (interactive)
  (let ((fill-column (point-max)))
    (fill-paragraph nil)))
(global-set-key (kbd "M-Q") #'unfill-paragraph)

(use-package simple
  :bind (([remap capitalize-word] . capitalize-dwim)
	 ([remap downcase-word] . downcase-dwim)
	 ([remap upcase-word] . upcase-dwim)))

Generating my website

(use-package ox-hugo
  :ensure t
  :after ox)

Mail

I generally handle reading and composing mail from within Emacs, but i prefer to outsource to external tools for fetching and sending it, so that it's not so complicated to use external tools if i feel the need to.

Fetching mail

Reading mail

I keep coming back to rmail, despite its many, many warts. Currently i fetch mail into Spool.mbox with fdm, then rmail moves it into Inbox.mbox.

(use-package rmail
  :commands (rmail)
  :custom
  (rmail-primary-inbox-list '("~/Documents/Library/Mail.new/Spool.mbox"))
  (rmail-file-name "~/Documents/Library/Mail.new/Inbox.mbox")
  (rmail-user-mail-address-regexp
   (rx "noa@noa.pub"))
  (rmail-mime-prefer-html nil)
  (rmail-mime-attachment-dirs-alist '(("" "~/media")))
  (rmail-displayed-headers
   (rx bol (or "To" "Cc" "From" "Date" "Subject") ":"))
  (rmail-delete-after-output t)
  (rmail-default-file "~/Documents/Library/Mail/Archive.mbox")
  (mail-dont-reply-to-names rmail-user-mail-address-regexp)

  (rmail-display-summary nil)
  (rmail-redisplay-summary t)
  (rmail-summary-line-count-flag nil)

  ;; :hook
  ;; ((rmail-show-message . visual-line-fill-column-mode))
  )

Mutt

Despite not being a fan of tui applications, i find it useful to keep a simple mutt configuration around as i find it to be more robust than rmail in some corner cases.

set mbox_type = mbox
set folder = "~/Documents/Library/Mail.new/"
set spoolfile = "+Inbox.mbox"
set postponed = "+Drafts.mbox"
set record = "+Sent.mbox"
unset move

set signature = ~/.config/mutt/signature

alternates .*@gaiwan.org

set wait_key = no
# set delete
# unset confirmappend
# set quit
unset mark_old

set status_on_top = yes
set status_format = "%r%m messages%?n? (%n new)?%?d? (%d to delete)?%?t? (%t tagged)? %>-%?p?( %p postponed ) "
set help = no

ignore *
unignore from: to: cc: date: subject:
unhdr_order *
hdr_order from: to: cc: date: subject:

set markers = no
unset user_agent
set sort = threads
set sort_aux = reverse-last-date-received
set date_format = "%m/%d"
set index_format="[%Z] %D %-16.16F  %s"

# Mailcap
alternative_order text/plain text text/html
set mailcap_path = ~/.config/mutt/mailcap
auto_view text/html

macro index,pager,attach,compose \Cb "\
<enter-command> set my_pipe_decode=\$pipe_decode pipe_decode<Enter>\
<pipe-message> urlview<Enter>\
<enter-command> set pipe_decode=\$my_pipe_decode; unset my_pipe_decode<Enter>" \
"call urlview to extract URLs out of a message"

Unsurprisingly, i like to remove most colour from mutt.

color normal              default default
color attachment    bold  default default
color hdrdefault             cyan default
color indicator           default red
color quoted              default yellow
color signature              cyan default
color status      reverse default default
color tilde                  blue default
color tree                default default

color index red default ~P
color index red default ~D
color index default yellow ~T

color header brightdefault default ^From:
color header brightdefault default ^To:
color header brightdefault default ^Date:
color header brightdefault default ^Cc:
color header brightdefault default ^Subject:

# emails and urls
color body brightdefault default [\-\.+_a-zA-Z0-9]+@[\-\ea-zA-Z0-9]+
color body brightdefault default (https?|ftp)://[\-\.,/%~_:?&=\#a-zA-Z0-9]+

Composing mail

(use-package message
  :defer t
  :init
  (defun noa/message-default-headers ()
    (format "Fcc: ~/Documents/Library/Mail/outbox/%s.mbox"
            (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))

  :custom
  (message-default-headers #'noa/message-default-headers)
  (message-fill-column nil) ;; Don't enable auto-fill
  (user-full-name "noa")
  (user-mail-address "noa@noa.pub")
  (message-signature t)
  (message-signature-file "~/.config/signature")
  (message-send-mail-function 'message-send-mail-with-sendmail)
  (sendmail-program (executable-find "msmtpq"))
  (message-sendmail-extra-arguments '("--read-envelope-from"))
  (message-sendmail-envelope-from 'header)
  (message-kill-buffer-on-exit t)
  (message-sendmail-f-is-evil t)
  (message-forward-as-mime t)
  (message-interactive t)
  (message-auto-save-directory "~/Documents/Library/Mail/drafts"))

Sending mail

Bibliography management

Unsurprisingly, i manage my bibliography in emacs. The general workflow i currently follow is that all papers i read get a heading under the input tree in this file, which contains a biblatex source block and any notes i have. The biblatex sources are then tangled out into a single ~/Documents/References.bib file.

In Emacs, i write essays in org mode. I use citar to insert references into this document. Citar wants to know which bibliography file it should read from, and where i store notes and papers. If a record doesn't have a file set, it will look in the library path for a document with the same name as the citekey.

(use-package citar
  :ensure t
  :commands (citar-insert-citation citar-open-files citar-open-notes)
  :custom
  (citar-bibliography '("~/Documents/References.bib"))
  (citar-library-paths '("~/Documents/Library/Papers"))
  (citar-notes-paths '("~/Documents/Notes")))

Within org mode, we can replace the built-in org cite functionality with citar, which will override the default C-c C-x @ binding to use citar instead. Also, enabling integration with embark is a useful way to quickly access relevant actions we can take on the citation at point.

(use-package citar-org
  :after oc citar
  :custom
  (org-cite-insert-processor 'citar)
  (org-cite-follow-processor 'citar)
  (org-cite-activate-processor 'citar))
(use-package citar-embark
  :after citar embark
  :ensure t
  :custom
  (citar-at-point-function 'embark-act)
  :hook ((org-mode . citar-embark-mode)))

Previously, i was using biblio to insert bibtex entries into the database. Currently i don't do that, and i just write them by hand. This section is most useful for when i use biblio, but it's good to keep around for the formatting help.

(use-package bibtex
  :defer t
  :custom
  (bibtex-dialect 'biblatex)
  (bibtex-entry-format '(opts-or-alts
                         page-dashes
                         required-fields
                         numerical-fields
                         whitespace
                         last-comma
                         delimiters
                         unify-case
                         sort-fields))
  (bibtex-field-delimiters 'braces)
  (bibtex-entry-delimiters 'braces)
  ;; Use one name, appending ETAL if there is more than one author
  ;; The name should be all caps
  (bibtex-autokey-names 1)
  (bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert-function 'upcase)
  (bibtex-autokey-additional-names "ETAL")
  ;; Follow this with the full year
  ;; Probably don't need more than two digits actually
  (bibtex-autokey-name-year-separator "-")
  (bibtex-autokey-year-length 4)
  ;; Follow this with initials of the title
  (bibtex-autokey-year-title-separator "-")
  (bibtex-autokey-titlewords t)
  (bibtex-autokey-titleword-length -1) ;; One character
  (bibtex-autokey-titleword-separator "")
  (bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert-function 'upcase))

(use-package biblio
  :disabled t
  :ensure t
  :defer t
  :custom
  (biblio-bibtex-use-autokey t)
  (biblio-download-directory "~/Documents/Library/Papers"))

Taking notes

(use-package howm
  :ensure t
  :init
  (require 'howm-org))


(setopt howm-file-name-format "%Y-%m-%d-%H%M%S.org"
        howm-directory "~/Documents/howm/"
        howm-keyword-file (expand-file-name ".howm-keys" howm-directory)
        howm-history-file (expand-file-name ".howm-keys" howm-directory)
        howm-view-summary-sep "\t"
        howm-keyword-case-fold-search t
        howm-view-summary-window-size 10
        howm-view-summary-name "*howmS:%s*"
        howm-follow-theme t)

(require 'howm)

(add-hook 'howm-mode-hook 'howm-mode-set-buffer-name)
(add-hook 'after-save-hook 'howm-mode-set-buffer-name)

;; (define-key howm-menu-mode-map "\C-h" nil)
;; (define-key riffle-summary-mode-map "\C-h" nil)
;; (define-key howm-view-contents-mode-map "\C-h" nil)

(global-set-key (kbd "<f12>") #'howm-list-all)
(global-set-key (kbd "S-<f12>") #'howm-create)
        

(use-package org
  :defer t
  :init

  :custom
  (org-clock-sound "~/Library/Ringtones/Loud ding.wav")
  (org-imenu-depth 3)
  (org-tags-column 0)
  (org-agenda-files '("~/Documents/Agenda.org"))
  (org-refile-targets '((org-agenda-files :maxlevel . 3)))
  (org-refile-use-outline-path 'file)
  (org-outline-path-complete-in-steps nil)
  (org-refile-allow-creating-parent-nodes 'confirm)
  (org-replace-disputed-keys t)
  (org-support-shift-select 'always) ;; Still refuses to fix on timestamps :/
  (org-log-done 'time)
  (org-pretty-entities t)
  (org-startup-with-inline-images t)
  (org-image-actual-width '(300))
  (org-ellipsis " [+]")
  (org-insert-heading-respect-content t)
  (org-fontify-done-headline nil)
  (org-fontify-todo-headline nil)
  (org-fontify-whole-heading-line t)
  (org-src-fontify-natively t)
  (org-src-tab-acts-natively t)
  (org-edit-src-content-indentation 0)
  (org-use-sub-superscripts '{})
  (org-export-preserve-breaks t)
  (org-agenda-remove-tags t)
  (org-agenda-prefix-format '((agenda . " %?-14t% s")
                              (todo . "")
                              (tags . " %i %-12:c")
                              (search . " %i %-12:c")))
  (org-agenda-scheduled-leaders '("Scheduled: " "Sched.%2dx: "))
  (org-agenda-deadline-leaders '("Deadline:  " "In %3d d.: " "%2d d. ago: "))
  (org-agenda-time-grid '((daily today require-timed remove-match)
                          nil
                          "" ""))
  (org-agenda-show-current-time-in-grid nil)
  (org-agenda-format-date "%n%Y-%m-%d %A")
  (org-agenda-span 'day)
  (org-agenda-custom-commands
   '(("n" "Agenda and unassigned to-dos"
      ((agenda "")
       (alltodo ""
                ((org-agenda-skip-function '(org-agenda-skip-entry-if 'todo 'done
                                                                      'scheduled 'deadline))
                 (org-agenda-overriding-header "Drifting tasks")))))))
  
  ;;    ((agenda "")
  ;;     (tags-todo "-SCHEDULED={.+}")))))
  (org-agenda-skip-scheduled-if-deadline-is-shown t)

  :custom-face
  (org-table ((t (:inherit fixed-pitch))))
  (org-date ((t (:inherit fixed-pitch :underline t))))
  ;; :bind (:map org-mode-map
  ;;             ([remap imenu] . consult-org-heading))
  )

(defun log-todo-next-creation-date (&rest ignore)
  "Log NEXT creation time in the property drawer under the key 'ACTIVATED'"
  (when (and (string= (org-get-todo-state) "NEXT")
             (not (org-entry-get nil "ACTIVATED")))
    (org-entry-put nil "ACTIVATED" (format-time-string "[%Y-%m-%d]"))))
(add-hook 'org-after-todo-state-change-hook #'log-todo-next-creation-date)

(use-package oc
  :after org
  :custom
  (org-cite-global-bibliography '("~/Documents/References.bib"))
  (org-cite-export-processors '((beamer csl)
                                (latex csl)
                                (t csl))))
(use-package oc-csl
  :after oc
  :custom
  (org-cite-csl-styles-dir "~/Library/Citation styles"))

;; Support chinese in latex pdf export
(require 'ox-latex)
(add-to-list 'org-latex-classes '("ctexart" "\\documentclass{ctexart}"
                                  ("\\section{%s}" . "\\section*{%s}")
                                  ("\\subsection{%s}" . "\\subsection*{%s}")
                                  ("\\subsubsection{%s}" . "\\subsubsection*{%s}")
                                  ("\\paragraph{%s}" . "\\paragraph*{%s}")
                                  ("\\subparagraph{%s}" . "\\subparagraph*{%s}")))

(add-to-list 'org-latex-classes '("ctexbook" "\\documentclass[11pt]{ctexbook}" ("\\part{%s}" . "\\part*{%s}")
  ("\\chapter{%s}" . "\\chapter*{%s}")
  ("\\section{%s}" . "\\section*{%s}")
  ("\\subsection{%s}" . "\\subsection*{%s}")
  ("\\subsubsection{%s}" . "\\subsubsection*{%s}")))

;; Not working how i want
(use-package org-capture
  :bind ("C-c c" . org-capture)
  :custom
  (org-capture-templates
   '(("d" "Today's diary" plain (file+olp+datetree "~/Documents/Diary.org")
      "%?")
     ("t" "Todo" entry (file "~/Documents/Agenda.org")
      "* TODO %?\n%U\n%a\n%i")
     ("s" "Source" entry (file "~/Documents/Sources.org")
      "* TODO %?\n%U\n#+begin_src bibtex :tangle References.bib\n#+end_src\n")
     ("a" "Appointment" entry (file"~/Documents/Agenda.org")
      "* %?\n%T\n" :time-prompt t)
     )))

;; See https://llazarek.github.io/blog/2018/07/organization-with-org-mode.html
;; for configuring the org agenda
(use-package org-agenda
  :bind ("C-c a" . org-agenda))

;; Experimental website generator
(use-package ox-hugo
  :disabled t
  :ensure t
  :after ox)

;; Markdown
(use-package markdown-mode
  :ensure t
  :mode ("\\.\\(?:md\\|markdown\\|mkd\\|mdown\\|mkdn\\|mdwn\\)\\'" . markdown-mode)
  :custom
  (markdown-disable-tooltip-prompt t) ; When inserting a link, only prompt for url and link text
  (markdown-enable-html nil) ; I don't believe markdown should have html
  (markdown-hide-urls t) ; Make inline urls look a bit neater
  (markdown-url-compose-char ?~)
  (markdown-max-image-size '(640 . 480))

  ;; :hook ((markdown-mode . noa/set-buffer-name-to-markdown-title))
  )

System administration

(add-hook 'eshell-mode-hook #'eat-eshell-mode)

(use-package proced
  :commands (proced)
  :custom
  (proced-auto-update-flag t)
  (proced-show-remote-processes t))

(use-package apt-utils
  :disabled t
  :commands (apt-utils-search))

File management

(use-package dired
  :commands (dired dired-jump)
  :custom
  (dired-recursive-deletes 'always) ;; Don't ask me things
  (dired-recursive-copies 'always) ;; Don't ask me things
  (dired-dwim-target t) ;; Synergy between two dired windows
  ;; I have quite a bit of storage and also make bad decisions regularly
  ;; People who have used computers in the last forty years or so will likely be familiar with this innovation.
  (delete-by-moving-to-trash t)

  ;; -l is required by dired
  ;; -a to also show dotfiles
  ;; -v to sort numbers properly
  ;; -F to visually distinguish different types of file
  ;; -h for human readable file sizes
  ;; I won't explain the meaning of the long flag.
  (dired-listing-switches "-alvFh --group-directories-first")

  ;; By default, don't show dired details
  :hook ((dired-mode . dired-hide-details-mode)
         (dired-mode . hl-line-mode))
  )

(use-package image-dired
  :defer t
  :custom
  (image-dired-thumbnail-storage 'standard))

(use-package recentf
  :hook (after-init . recentf-mode)
  :bind (("C-x C-r" . recentf)))

(use-package bookmark
  :custom
  (bookmark-save-flag 1))

;; Remember my position in files
(use-package saveplace
  :hook (after-init . save-place-mode))

Window and buffer navigation

(use-package isearch
  :bind (:map isearch-mode-map
              ("<return>" . noa/isearch-done-goto-start) ; always put point at the beginning of the match
              ("C-g" . isearch-cancel) ; always quit on C-g
              ("C-o" . isearch-occur))
  :init (defun noa/isearch-done-goto-start (&optional nopush edit)
          "End isearch at the start of the match."
          (interactive)
          (funcall #'isearch-done nopush edit)
          (when isearch-forward (goto-char isearch-other-end)))
  :custom
  (isearch-lax-whitespace t)
  (isearch-lazy-count t)
  (isearch-allow-motion t)
  (isearch-repeat-on-direction-change t)
  (isearch-wrap-pause 'no))

(use-package avy
  :ensure t
  :bind (("M-j" . avy-goto-char-timer)
	 :map isearch-mode-map
	 ("M-j" . avy-isearch))
  :custom
  (avy-keys (number-sequence ?a ?z))
  (avy-timeout-seconds 0.2))

;; Make window management commands easier to press
(use-package ace-window
  :ensure t
  :bind ([remap other-window] . ace-window))

;; Better buffer naming
(use-package uniquify
  :custom
  (uniquify-after-kill-buffer-p t)
  (uniquify-buffer-name-style 'forward)
  (uniquify-ignore-buffers-re "^\\*")
  (uniquify-separator "/"))

Embark

(use-package embark
  :ensure t
  :bind
  (("C-." . embark-act)
   ([remap describe-bindings] . embark-bindings))

  :init
  (setq prefix-help-command #'embark-prefix-help-command))

(use-package embark-consult
  :ensure t
  :after (embark consult)
  :hook
  (embark-collect-mode . consult-preview-at-point-mode))

Reading pdfs and epub files

(use-package pdf-tools
  :ensure t
  :when (display-graphic-p)
  :magic ("%PDF" . pdf-view-mode)
  :config
  (pdf-tools-install :no-query))

Music

(use-package emms
  :disabled t
  :config
  (require 'emms-setup)
  (require 'emms-info-metaflac)
  (require 'emms-info-mp3info)
  (require 'emms-info-ogginfo)
  (emms-all)
  (emms-default-players)
  (setq emms-source-file-default-directory "~/Music/")
  (setq emms-browser-covers 'emms-browser-cache-thumbnail-async)
  (setq emms-playlist-default-major-mode 'emms-playlist-mode)
  (setq emms-track-description-function 'emacs-init/emms-track-description)
  (add-to-list 'emms-info-functions 'emms-info-libtag)
  (add-to-list 'emms-info-functions 'emms-info-mp3info)
  (add-to-list 'emms-info-functions 'emms-info-ogginfo)
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c e p") 'emms-playlist-mode-go)
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c e r") 'emms-toggle-repeat-playlist)
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c e s") 'emms-toggle-random-playlist))

Useful functions

Here i collect a bunch of useful defuns that i use now and again. Some were written by me, while others were copied from the emacs wiki.

Yank the file name of the current buffer

I used this a lot more when i kept my notes in individual files, and also before i discovered that M-n will insert the current file name into a shell-command prompt.

(defun noa/yank-buffer-file-name ()
  (interactive)
  (when (buffer-file-name)
    (kill-new (file-name-nondirectory (buffer-file-name)))))

Twenty five minute timer

(defun noa/twenty-five-minutes ()
  (interactive)
  (org-timer-set-timer 25))

Insert the date at point

Sometimes it's useful to be able to add a timestamp. Here we defun a function that will insert a datestamp at the point and, if given a prefix argument, also insert a timestamp. I use this for notes. For fun, we bind it to the same key chord as notepad.exe.

(defun noa/insert-date (&optional time)
  "Insert the current date into the buffer.
With prefix argument TIME, also add the current time."
  (interactive "P")
  (if time
      (insert (format-time-string "[%Y-%m-%d %H:%M]"))
    (insert (format-time-string "[%Y-%m-%d]"))))
(defun noa/insert-date-time ()
  (interactive)
  (noa/insert-date t))

(global-set-key (kbd "<f5>") #'noa/insert-date-time)

Insert a star rating

When i started recording the films i'd watched, i wanted to give each one a rating. At first i used a number, but this is difficult to scan and a bit administrative for something that's meant to be fun. I wanted to use star ratings like a real critic, but they're sort of a headache to deal with, so i wrote a little function to make it easier.

This function is very rough, and doesn't check for bounds, despite having hardcoded logic for a rating out of five stars.

(defun noa/star-rating (rating)
  "Insert a star rating (★★★☆☆) into the buffer at point as RATING out of five stars."
  (interactive "nRating: ")
  (insert-char ?★ rating)
  (insert-char ?☆ (- 5 rating)))

Snarf song

This little function is so non-interactive that it probably makes more sense for me to move it out of Emacs. But for now here it is. It uses yt-dlp to grab a song from youtube, or anywhere else that yt-dlp supports, and save it to my ~/Downloads folder as an mp3.

(defun snarf-song (url)
  (interactive "sYoutube url:")
  (async-shell-command
   (concat "yt-dlp -x --audio-format=mp3 -o "
           (shell-quote-argument "~/Downloads/%(title)s [%(id)s].%(ext)s")
           " "
           (shell-quote-argument url))))

Tramp

(use-package tramp
  :defer t
  :custom
  (tramp-inline-compress-start-size 1000)
  (tramp-verbose 3))
;; (add-to-list 'tramp-remote-path 'tramp-own-remote-path)

Window management

;; Don't override display actions when i manually initiate a buffer switch.
(use-package window
  :custom
  ;; My computer has a small screen, so i find that it's more beneficial for me to split the frame into columns, so i get more context.  However, splitting in this way only gives me a (window-width) of 61, so emacs will always split into vertically stacked windows.  By setting this to 80, the first split should always be vertical.
  (split-width-threshold 80)
  (switch-to-buffer-obey-display-actions t)
  ;; C-l from top to bottom
  (recenter-positions '(top middle bottom)))

;; Easily grabbable bars for resizing windows
(use-package frame
  :hook (after-init . window-divider-mode)
  :custom
  (window-divider-default-places t)
  (window-divider-default-right-width 1)
  (window-divider-default-bottom-width 1)
  :custom-face
  (window-divider ((t (:inherit vertical-border)))))

Unsorted

;; Update the calendar.  We want weeks to start on a monday, the first day of the week.  Holidays should be highlighted, and the date format should put the year first.
(use-package calendar
  :defer t
  :custom
  (calendar-week-start-day 1)
  (calendar-date-style 'iso)

  :config
  ;; Ensure the calendar always displays at the bottom of the screen, rather than wrapping weirdly and looking bad when it shows up in a side window.
  (add-to-list 'display-buffer-alist
               '("\\*Calendar\\*"
                 (display-buffer-in-side-window)
                 (side . bottom))))

;; Squeeze text into a more legible sliver.
(use-package visual-fill-column
  :ensure t
  :custom
  (visual-fill-column-enable-sensible-window-split t)
  (visual-fill-column-fringes-outside-margins nil) ; Keep fringes on the inside so relevant icons are in the right place
  (visual-fill-column-center-text t)
  :hook
  (
   ;; (text-mode . visual-fill-column-mode)
   (eww-after-render . visual-line-fill-column-mode))
  )

;; (advice-add 'text-scale-adjust :after #'visual-fill-column-adjust)

;; Doesn't indent nicely with proportional fonts
;; (use-package adaptive-wrap :ensure t)
;; (add-hook 'visual-fill-column-mode-hook #'visual-wrap-prefix-mode)

(use-package simple
  :hook ((text-mode . visual-line-mode)
         (after-init . auto-save-mode))
  :bind ([remap kill-buffer] . kill-current-buffer)
  :custom
  (save-interprogram-paste-before-kill t)
  ;; Hide commands in M-x which do not work in the current mode.
  (read-extended-command-predicate 'command-completion-default-include-p)
  ;; My brain is not ready for advanced emacs undo
  (undo-no-redo t))

(use-package help
  :defer t
  :custom
  ;; When opening source files from a help window, use the same window
  (help-window-keep-selected t))

(use-package emacs
  :custom
  (window-combination-resize t)
  (window-resize-pixelwise t)
  (frame-resize-pixelwise t)
  (shell-file-name "/bin/sh")
  ;; yes-or-no-p uses y-or-no-p, and read-answer accepts single key press answers
  (use-short-answers t)
  ;; Use a bar cursor and blink it and don't stop blinking it.
  (cursor-type 'bar)
  ;; Support opening new minibuffers from inside existing minibuffers.
  (enable-recursive-minibuffers t)
  ;; Whether to drop into the debugger on any error.  This seems cool, but in practice is a bit annoying.
  (debug-on-error nil)
  (create-lockfiles nil)
  (auto-save-interval 6)  ;; every six keystrokes
  (auto-save-timeout 5) ;; every 5 seconds
  (auto-save-no-message t)
  ;; Always give me a line of text when i'm near the edges of the screen
  (scroll-margin 2))

(use-package files
  :custom
  (view-read-only t)
  (confirm-kill-emacs 'y-or-n-p)
  ;; We are on a unix system, so it makes sense to end files in the unix system way.  I'm surprised this isn't the default.
  (require-final-newline t)

  (remote-file-name-inhibit-locks t)
  (remote-file-name-inhibit-auto-save t)
  (remote-file-name-inhibit-auto-save-visited t)
  (backup-directory-alist '(("." . "~/.config/emacs/backups/")))
  (make-backup-files nil)
  (backup-by-copying t)
  (version-control t)
  ;; this will auto save to the current file
  (auto-save-visited-mode t)
  (auto-save-visited-interval 0.1)
  (save-silently t) ;; don't message when saving
  )

;; Disable disabled commands
(setq disabled-command-function nil)

;; Don't save changes in the customize interface
(use-package cus-edit
  :custom
  (custom-unlispify-tag-names nil)
  (custom-file (make-temp-file "custom")))

;; Emacs server
;; (unless (server-running-p) (server-start)))

;; Better support for long lines.
(use-package so-long
  :hook (after-init . global-so-long-mode))

;; Automatically revert buffers when they change on disk.  This doesn't apply to tramp.
(use-package autorevert
  :hook (after-init . global-auto-revert-mode)
  :custom
  (global-auto-revert-non-file-buffers t))

;; Zap up to char
(global-set-key (kbd "M-z") 'zap-up-to-char)

(setenv "PAGER" "cat")
(setenv "TERM" "dumb")
(setenv "GPG_AGENT_INFO" nil)

Putting it all together

Now we have all the component pieces, and we can stick them into the required files. Emacs has two init files. The first is called before we initialise package management and a window system, which makes it a useful place to set those things up. Especially the latter, as it helps us to avoid flashes of unconfigured windows.

;;; early-init.el -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-
<<early-init-xresources>>
<<early-init-inhibit-implied-resize>>
<<early-init-frame-properties>>
<<early-init-package-archives>>

The second is the classic init.el. It's a big one!

;;; init.el --- my emacs configuration  -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-

;;; Commentary:

;; This file has been exported from a literate org-mode file.  Make sure to update it there rather than here.

;; (profiler-start 'cpu+mem)

(require 'no-littering)

(load-file "~/.config/emacs/interface.el")
(load-file "~/.config/emacs/dictionary.el")
(load-file "~/.config/emacs/web.el")
(load-file "~/.config/emacs/programming.el")
(load-file "~/.config/emacs/writing.el")
(load-file "~/.config/emacs/org.el")
(load-file "~/.config/emacs/mail.el")
(load-file "~/.config/emacs/bibliography.el")
(load-file "~/.config/emacs/sysadmin.el")
(load-file "~/.config/emacs/files.el")
(load-file "~/.config/emacs/reading.el")
(load-file "~/.config/emacs/music.el")
(load-file "~/.config/emacs/utilities.el")

;; (profiler-stop)