22. Miscellaneous

22.1. How do I specify the paths that XEmacs uses for finding files?

You can specify what paths to use by using a number of different flags when running configure. See the section MAKE VARIABLES in the top-level file INSTALL in the XEmacs distribution for a listing of those flags.

Most of the time, however, the simplest fix is: DO NOT specify paths as you might for FSF GNU Emacs. XEmacs can generally determine the necessary paths dynamically at run time. The only path that generally needs to be specified is the root directory to install into. That can be specified by passing the --prefix flag to configure. For a description of the XEmacs install tree, please consult the NEWS file.

22.2. Why does edt emulation not work?

We don't know, but you can use tpu-edt emulation instead, which works fine and is a little fancier than the standard edt emulation. To do this, add the following line to your `.emacs':

(load "tpu-edt")

If you don't want it to replace Ctrl-h with edt-style help menu add this as well:

(global-set-key '(control h) 'help-for-help)

22.3. How can I emulate VI and use it as my default mode?

Our recommended VI emulator is viper. To put the current buffer into viper-mode, use the command:

M-x viper

To make viper-mode the default, add the following lines to your `.emacs':

(load-library "viper")
(setq term-setup-hook 'viper)
(setq find-file-hooks 'viper)
(setq find-file-not-found-hooks 'viper)

22.4. Is there some way to get the behavior so that if the current buffer has a file associated with it, the current buffer will use that files name else use the buffer name?

Just set frame-title-format from find-file-hooks. Alternatively, look at the answer to question 15.2.

In addition, one could set modeline-format.

22.5. I have no idea where this is coming from, but ever since I moved from 19.9 to 19.13 I have started seeing that all of my buffers will get a minor mode called `Omit'. I have no idea how it got there nor do I know what it does. What is

it?

It's part of dired. In dired, you can type M-o to get Omit mode and that will ignore uninteresting files (checkpoint files and backups, for example). You get Omit in the modeline everywhere because the variable `dired-omit-files-p' is globally set to some non-nil value. If you want this functionality, it's probably best to use a hook:

(add-hook 'dired-after-readin-hook '(lambda () (dired-omit-toggle)))

Alternatively, since it seems odd to toggle the omit state with every readin, since readin can happen many times in a Dired buffer, you can try this hook to correct the "Omit" problem:

(add-hook 'dired-mode-hook
  (function (lambda ()
      ;; `dired-omit-files-p' is made buffer-local by "dired-x.el", but
      ;; maybe not soon enough.
            (make-local-variable 'dired-omit-files-p)
            (setq dired-omit-files-p t))))

This is only run once, when the Dired buffer is created.

22.6. How do I turn off the sound?

Add the following line to your `.emacs' file:

(setq bell-volume 0)
(setq sound-alist nil)

22.7. Can I have the end of the buffer delimited in some way? Say, with: [END] ?

(make-annotation "[END]" (point-max) 'text (current-buffer))

Note that you might want to put this in a hook.

You might also need:

(require 'annotations)

since make-annotation is not defined by default.

22.8. Can I insert today's date into buffer?

Use this lisp in a function:

(insert (current-time-string))

22.9. Are only certain syntactic character classes available for abbrevs? I didn't see any restrictions in the info.

Yes, abbrevs only expand word-syntax strings. So, in c-mode if you wanted to expand something to `define ', you would be able to expand `xd' but not `#d'.

22.10. Filladapt used to work after I loaded it. Now in 19.13 it doesn't. What gives?

Filladapt 2.x is included in 19.13+. In it filladapt is now a minor mode and minor modes are traditionally off by default. The following added to your .emacs will turn it on for all buffers:

(setq-default filladapt-mode t)

Use turn-on-filladapt-mode to turn Filladapt on in particular major modes, like this:

(add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-filladapt-mode)