Re: best gnu/linux distro for emacs

[Xue Fuqiao]

On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 01:00:42 +0000
wgreenhouse@riseup.net (W. Greenhouse) wrote:

> Xue Fuqiao <xfq.free@gmail.com> writes:
> >> > For now, what is the "best" distribution of GNU/Linux for running
> >> > emacs?

> >> The vital thing is less a question of distros and more a question of
> >> window manager/desktop environment, I think: avoid those which clobber
> >> important Emacs keybindings (e.g. M-TAB) and make it hard to
> >> reconfigure.

> > Right, many WM/DE block some keyboard inputs like `M-<TAB>', `M-<SPC>',
> > `C-M-d' and `C-M-l'.  And I think a lightweight WM/DE is preferred.
> > Because Emacs can do everything, it can take the place of most features
> > in a DE.

As for X window managers, I prefer Sawfish and StumpWM, since they are
highly extensible and customizable.

> > It's also a question of web browser.  For this question, I prefer
> > Conkeror, because it is mainly patterned after Emacs.

> > It's also a question of X toolkit.  For this question, I prefer
> > Gtk+, because it is the best toolkit supported by Emacs.

> Big +1 to Conkeror.

However, there are many problems in Conkeror.  No special facility for
configuring a proxy, cannot run many extensions (fully) and so on.  And
I often encounter segmentation faults when using Conkeror.

> However, I am not a big fan of the Gtk+ build of Emacs, because this
> choice of X toolkit for building Emacs introduces a big problem with
> respect to Emacs daemon reliability (loss of connection to the X
> server will now crash the daemon).  See the long-standing bug against
> Gtk+, https://bugs.launchpad.net/gtk/+bug/543611/comments/22.

I knew it.  I saw an message every time when I use `emacsclient -c -a ""' to 
invoke Emacs.

> If you like the Emacs GUI under X and you like using emacsclient/emacs
> --daemon, I recommend ./configure --with-x-toolkit=lucid or ./configure
> --with-x-toolkit=no as alternatives to using a Gtk+ build of Emacs.  X
> integration, including graphics and the ability to use Xft fonts, will
> not be affected; only the UI "widgets" such as scroll bars and toolbar
> buttons will change.  But you will be free from the threat of your
> daemon going down if there is some problem with X.

I don't use toolkits like Lucid and LessTif much, sorry.  There are many
features that Gtk+ has but these toolkits don't.

-- 
Xue Fuqiao
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/