Two-Year Update on Emacs Solo: A Zero-External-Package Emacs Configuration with 35 Modules
By
celadevra_
If you only eat one bagel today, this is the bagel.
Summary
The article details the author's two-year journey maintaining Emacs Solo, a custom Emacs configuration with the strict rule of using zero external packages. The author has refactored the entire codebase, organizing it into 35 modules covering various functionalities like editing, navigation, UI, and programming support. The project emphasizes self-sufficiency, using only built-in Emacs features and custom Elisp code written from scratch, avoiding package managers like straight.el or use-package. The author discusses the benefits of this approach, including faster startup times, better understanding of Emacs internals, and reduced dependency on external code.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledEverything is either built into Emacs or written from scratch by me in the lisp/ directory. No package-install, no straight.el, no use-package :ensure t pointing at ELPA or MELPA. Just Emacs and Elisp.
I've been maintaining Emacs Solo for a while now, and I think it's time to talk about what happened in this latest cycle as the project reaches its two-year mark.
For those who haven't seen it before, Emacs Solo is my daily-driver Emacs configuration with one strict rule: no external packages.
The project emphasizes self-sufficiency, using only built-in Emacs features and custom Elisp code written from scratch, avoiding package managers like straight.el or use-package.
The author discusses the benefits of this approach, including faster startup times, better understanding of Emacs internals, and reduced dependency on external code.
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