Well, at least MS is acknowledging the problem: installing (not to mention developing) OSS applications on Windows is a complete pain in the ass. They have announced some vaporware to deal with the situation.
Now, if they would only take the same approach with everybody's app. Windows would really benefit from a Debian/RedHat package management system: A single place to look for applications and installers. It works for Apple's iPhone, doesn't it?
Friday, April 9, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Emacs, Clojure, and Windows 7
Okay, I had to wrestle with this. Maybe that makes me dumb, but if you're reading this, then you ain't doin' much better. I've had an on-and-off again, love/hate relationship with emacs over the years, and I'm swinging back to "on/love" while dinking around with Clojure. Emacs really is the best Lisp-type environment, even on Windows.
To give credit where due, I started with this good post on freegeek.in, but some bits were outdated.
You also need git. Let's assume you get through all of that.
Last, but not least, you should have a JDK installed.
Add the path to git and java.exe to your PATH, and set JAVA_HOME to your JDK. If you don't want to do that, then start a command prompt, set them manually, and do anything emacs-y from there.
Anyway, download the ESK from github
If you have a
Nope, we're not quite there yet. Before you can use it, you need to install org-mode.
Fire up emacs, and
Okay, here's where I ran into a problem: when trying to use ELPA, I got the following error: "Local variables entry is missing the suffix". The nice thing about obscure error messages is that they are usually pretty easy to search on. (There's a patch here, only the file name is "package.el"
You'll be adding a function, and modifying
The ESK instructions say to build org-mode after that, but launching emacs seemed to take care of that.
Launch emacs, and type
Create the following directory structure wherever it is you want your project to go:
That should do it - hope it helps
To give credit where due, I started with this good post on freegeek.in, but some bits were outdated.
Pre-requisites
First, get emacs installed. Find the latest version in this folder, and extract it someplace - no installation is really necessary.You also need git. Let's assume you get through all of that.
Last, but not least, you should have a JDK installed.
Add the path to git and java.exe to your PATH, and set JAVA_HOME to your JDK. If you don't want to do that, then start a command prompt, set them manually, and do anything emacs-y from there.
set PATH=%PATH%;c:\sys\git\bin;c:\sys\emacs-23.1\bin
set JAVA_HOME=c:\program files\Java\jdk1.6.0_19
runemacsEmacs Starter Kit
Next, install the Emacs Starter Kit. This is a huge time-saver. Many of my previous complaints about emacs tended to be having to learn so much just to modify the environment. This takes care of a majority of that. One of the nice, and really important bits is ELPA - a package management system for emacs. In one fell swoop, 80% of my complaints have been silenced.Anyway, download the ESK from github
git clone git://github.com/eschulte/emacs-starter-kit.git C:\Users\<userdirectory>\AppData\Roaming\.emacs.dIf you have a
C:\Users\<userdirectory>\AppData\Roaming\.emacs file, rename it. You can copy it to custom.el, and it will be used as normal. Most of the action occurs in init.el, so that's a good place to look if you really don't like something.Nope, we're not quite there yet. Before you can use it, you need to install org-mode.
cd C:\Users\<userdirectory>\AppData\Roaming\.emacs.d
git submodule init
git submodule update
Fire up emacs, and
M-x package-list-packages. Scroll right on by that tempting "clojure-mode", and put your cursor on "swank-clojure", then press "i" (to select it for installation), then "x" (to start the installation).Okay, here's where I ran into a problem: when trying to use ELPA, I got the following error: "Local variables entry is missing the suffix". The nice thing about obscure error messages is that they are usually pretty easy to search on. (There's a patch here, only the file name is "package.el"
You'll be adding a function, and modifying
package-unpack-singe to use it.
(defun package-write-file-no-coding (file-name excl)
(setq buffer-file-coding-system 'no-conversion)
(write-region (point-min) (point-max) file-name nil nil nil excl))The ESK instructions say to build org-mode after that, but launching emacs seemed to take care of that.
Using it
Woooo! Installed! Isn't this easier than NetBeans? (well, actually "yes" for me, since it was some frustration with Enclojure that drove me back to emacs)Launch emacs, and type
M-x slime. If you have everything set up right, you should be prompted to install clojure. This will not only install clojure, but also get you the swank-clojure.jar you'll be needing for projects.Projects
Assuming you got your SLIME prompt in the step before, creating a project is easy, but not as easy as it could be.Create the following directory structure wherever it is you want your project to go:
root
+--src
+--lib
+--classes
lib directory, put your clojure, clojure-contrib, and swank-clojure jars. You can find them in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\.swank-clojure Then you should be able to start a new project with:
M-x swank-clojure-project
That should do it - hope it helps
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