Contents:

• Installation
• Settings
• Emacs Server as MacOS Service
• Script for running EmacsClient
• Bash/Zsh Settings
• Troubleshooting
  • Failed to verify signature
  • General unhappiness
• Resources

Installation #

My preferred installation on macOS:

brew install emacs --cask

This installs:

App '/Applications/Emacs.app'.
Binary '/usr/local/bin/emacs'.
Binary '/usr/local/bin/ebrowse'.
Binary '/usr/local/bin/emacsclient'.
Binary '/usr/local/bin/etags'.

GOTCHA: make sure these are on the system path and have priority over the system’s Emacs.

Settings #

git clone https://github.com/alexandru/emacs.d ~/.emacs.d

See repo.

Emacs Server as MacOS Service #

Create ~/Library/LaunchAgents/alex.emacs.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>alex.Emacs</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/usr/local/bin/emacs</string>
      <string>--fg-daemon</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>UserName</key>
    <string>replace_me_with_mac_username</string>
  </dict>
</plist>

The service can then be loaded via:

launchctl load -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/alex.emacs.plist

Or unloaded via:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/alex.emacs.plist

Script for running EmacsClient #

Placed in ~/bin/run-emacsclient:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

if [ -z "$EMACSCLIENT_OPTS" ]; then
  EMACSCLIENT_OPTS="-nc"
fi

if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
  COMMAND='/usr/local/bin/emacsclient '$EMACSCLIENT_OPTS' -e "(if (display-graphic-p) (x-focus-frame nil))"'
else
  COMMAND='/usr/local/bin/emacsclient '$EMACSCLIENT_OPTS' "$@"'
fi

if [ -z "$(shopt | grep login_shell)" ]; then
  echo "$COMMAND" | exec bash --login -s "$@"
else
  eval "exec $COMMAND"
fi

And a corresponding ~/bin/run-emacs-client-cli to force the CLI mode in the terminal, instead of opening a buffer in some opened GUI window:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

export EMACSCLIENT_OPTS='-t'
exec run-emacsclient "$@"

Bash/Zsh Settings #

# Default zsh keybindings (emacs; might want to switch to vim later)
bindkey -e

# Adding Emacs to PATH
export PATH="$PATH:~/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin:/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin:~/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS:/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS"

# Default editor
export EDITOR="$HOME/bin/run-emacsclient-cli"
export VISUAL="$EDITOR"
export ALTERNATE_EDITOR="vim"

## Editor aliases
alias e="$HOME/bin/run-emacsclient-cli"
alias ew="$HOME/bin/run-emacsclient"
alias notes='$HOME/bin/run-emacsclient-cli -e "(deft)"'

emacs_open_buffer()
{
  run-emacsclient-cli -e "(let ((b (find-buffer-by-prefix \"$1\"))) nil)"
}
alias eb=emacs_open_buffer

Troubleshooting #

Failed to verify signature #

In my case Emacs was complaining that key 066DAFCB81E42C40 is missing.

I managed to solve it by running:

gpg --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 066DAFCB81E42C40

Afterwards starting Emacs from the command line might be a good idea.

General unhappiness #

brew uninstall emacs

Then download VS Code.

Resources #

• The Emacs Lisp Style Guide