pn_net

no-littering is a small package that keeps the ~/.emacs.d directory clean and organized. This makes it easier to exclude machine-specific files during synchronization.

It's available on melpa and doesn't require any configuration to get started; a single line is all that's required to use it:

;; Standard load.
(require 'no-littering)

;; or with use-package
(use-package no-littering)

I sync my ~/.emacs.d directory between machines using Dropbox. The following directories are excluded:

• ~/.emacs.d/auto-save-list/
• ~/.emacs.d/backup/
• ~/.emacs.d/etc/
• ~/.emacs.d/server/
• ~/.emacs.d/var/

These directories often contain things that are tied to the current machine's directory layout, which can cause issues when they are synchronized. The backup directory in particular generates a lot of files and excluding that cut out a lot of headaches.

All of my per-user configuration lives in the ~/.emacs.d/users/{username}/ directory. All files in that directory are loaded last so that they override any default settings.

The following snippet is placed just before (provide 'init) in my ~/.emacs.d/init.el file.

;; Configure the user directory path.
(defvar user-settings-dir
  (concat user-emacs-directory "users/" user-login-name)
  "Settings directory for the current user.")

(defun pn/load-user-init-file (file)
  "Load an init file from FILE."
  (load (format "%s/%s" user-settings-dir file)))

;; Load all elisp files in the current user directory.
(when (file-exists-p user-settings-dir)
  (mapc #'pn/load-user-init-file
	(directory-files user-settings-dir nil "^[^#].*el$")))

The final piece of the puzzle is setting up configuration that only runs on a specific operating system. I use this for setting fonts, paths, and themes.

I put this code in a user-specific init.el file, although it can also go at the end of the main init.el file.

(when (string= "windows-nt" system-type)
  ;; Windows only configuration.
  )

(when (string= "darwin" system-type)
  ;; Mac OS only configuraiton.
  )

(when (string= "gnu/linux" system-type)
  ;; Linux only configuration.
  )

—

Using all of these techniques together allows me to keep my Emacs configuration in sync with a minimum of fuss.

1. Complete at least one "other goal"

I marked "Contribute regularly to an online community" as completed. I've been doing this since the start of the year so I think it's fair to mark as completed.

It's a different experience from when I used to post on forums in the late 90's - a lot of communities are centralized on Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter - but it's been nice to talk to other people.

One thing I still want to do is integrate Webmention support into this site.

Out of all the goals I picked this year, this was probably the only one made easier by Covid restrictions.

2. Continue my bodyweight workouts

Not only did I not miss a single workout on September, but I also added some runs to the same days I did workouts. I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to continue the same workout schedule once marathon training starts, but so far things are looking good.

3. Create plans for my bodyweight skill goals, and follow them

I created a spreadsheet to track my progress through each set of progressions, and I added skill work to my scheduled workouts.

1. Prep for a 30 day blog marathon

I have a list of topics to write about, and I'm sure more ideas will surface once I start writing regularly.

2. Read a book!

I bought some books, but that doesn't count for much if I don't read them.

1. Release version 0.3 of The Book

I published a new chapter of The Book. I'd like to be writing more, but I'm on pace to have everything I wanted written by the end of the year.

2. Bodyweight workouts, 3 times a week

This goal was a big, big success for me. I managed 3 workouts a week and saw some pretty nice improvements: I went from 15 pull ups to 32, increased my push ups to 18 per day, and added some basic dragon flag progressions near the end of the month. I also bought a set of gymnastic rings for incline rows and dips.

I set up a Beeminder goal which made all the difference. Previous attempts at this goal have failed because I would take days off to "rest", or because I didn't feel 100%. It turns out $5 is all it takes to encourage me to work past those problems.

3. Release version 1.2 of beeminder.el

Good grief, what will it take to get this thing released?

1. Publish 8 posts on this site

Not even close here.

2. Maintain a frog stand for 30 seconds

I made it up to 5 seconds, but it was tough to get much higher than that. I did not practice as deliberately as I should - I set a timer for 5 minutes and then tried to frog stand in that time.

Next time around I'll create a plan and set myself some weekly and daily targets. I've had success with that approach in other areas, and I think it will work here too.

The following code lives in my Emacs init.el. It sets up deft and zetteldeft, along with a bunch of keyboard shortcuts.

One additional change I made is binding C-c z p to sodaware/deft-open-preview. This allows me to open notes in a preview window without the list losing keyboard focus.

I use file-truename when setting my notes path as zetteldeft had some problems locating my notes when using a relative path.

(use-package deft
  :bind
  (("C-c d" . deft))
  :custom
  ;; Set deft path to full path so that zetteldeft works.
  (deft-directory         (file-truename "~/Documents/notes"))
  (deft-extensions        '("md" "org"))
  (deft-default-extension "org")
  (deft-recursive         t))

(use-package zetteldeft
  :bind
  ("C-c z d" . deft)
  ("C-c z R" . deft-refresh)
  ("C-c z D" . zetteldeft-deft-new-search)
  ("C-c z s" . zetteldeft-search-at-point)
  ("C-c z c" . zetteldeft-search-current-id)
  ("C-c z f" . zetteldeft-follow-link)
  ("C-c z F" . zetteldeft-avy-file-search-ace-window)
  ("C-c z l" . zetteldeft-avy-link-search)
  ("C-c z t" . zetteldeft-avy-tag-search)
  ("C-c z T" . zetteldeft-tag-buffer)
  ("C-c z i" . zetteldeft-find-file-id-insert)
  ("C-c z I" . zetteldeft-find-file-full-title-insert)
  ("C-c z o" . zetteldeft-find-file)
  ("C-c z n" . zetteldeft-new-file)
  ("C-c z N" . zetteldeft-new-file-and-link)
  ("C-c z p" . sodaware/deft-open-preview)
  ("C-c z r" . zetteldeft-file-rename)
  ("C-c z x" . zetteldeft-count-words)
  :config
  (defun sodaware/deft-open-preview ()
    (interactive)
    (deft-open-file-other-window))

  (font-lock-add-keywords
   'org-mode
   `((,zetteldeft-id-regex  . font-lock-warning-face)
     (,zetteldeft-tag-regex . font-lock-warning-face))))

This is one of my favourite changes - it adds a new org-mode protocol, zdlink, which allows me to insert an org-style link to any note via C-c C-l. These links can be opened like any other org-mode link, and because they only include the note name (not the full path) they work across machines.

This isn't very useful if you're using markdown, but for pure org it makes linking and navigating much easier.

;; Add custom `zdlink` to handle zettledeft links.
(eval-after-load 'org
  (lambda ()
    (require 'zetteldeft)
    (org-link-set-parameters
     "zdlink"
     :follow
     (lambda (str) (zetteldeft--search-filename
		    (zetteldeft--lift-id str)))
     :complete  #'sodaware/zd-complete-link
     :help-echo "Searches provided ID in Zetteldeft")))

(defun sodaware/zd-complete-link ()
  "Link completion for `zdlink' type links."
  (let* ((file (completing-read "File to link to: "
				(deft-find-all-files-no-prefix)))
	 (link (zetteldeft--lift-id file)))
    (unless link (user-error "No file selected"))
    (concat "zdlink:" link)))

Note: This behaviour is now part of zetteldeft core. A home note can be assigned via the zetteldeft-home-id variable, and then accessed with M-x zetteldeft-go-home.

–

This is a small change that allows me to open a specific note file with a keyboard shortcut. This is useful when keeping a single note that acts as a gateway to all others.

I prefer the main search buffer for finding notes, but I keep one note that lists my main projects and links to their notes.

(defun sodaware/zd-homepage ()
  "Open Zetteldeft home file."
  (interactive)
  (zetteldeft-find-file "2020-07-10-0959 Home.org"))
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c z h") #'sodaware/zd-homepage)

This is a really simple .dir-locals.el file that lives in my main notes directory. It adds 3 features:

• emojify-mode support – Sometimes I see fancy notion setups and want to spice up my buffers with some emoji. I don't, but with emojify-mode I could.
• whitespace-mode - This removes trailing whitespace when I save notes.
• Expands notes on opening – I normally have org-mode headlines collapsed as I use it for organizing my todo lists, but for notes I like to see the entire document when I open it.

((org-mode . ((mode . emojify)
	      (mode . whitespace-cleanup)
	      (eval . (outline-show-all)))))