Recent Changes

2026-06-22

• 17:19 UTC (new) (history) 2026-06-22 Disabling minor modes with local variables . . . . mbork – I’ve known about file local variables for a long time. I also knew about the eval keyword, which can be used as a file variable, but instead of binding the given value to the (non-existent) variable eval, Emacs evaluates it. This is often useful, but the usefulness is diminished by the fact that Emacs nags the user whether it is safe to evaluate a form provided that way. (Of course, it is reasonable security-wise, and that’s why I didn’t set enable-local-variables to :all – I still prefer the nagging to the risk of executing untrusted code!) There is, however, one case where the eval form seems safe and useful enough to grant an exception: enabling or disabling minor modes.

2026-06-15

• 23:21 UTC (new) (history) Comments on 2026-06-15 Scrolling pdfs in other windows . . . . karthink – This is a common-enough need that the Emacs developers have you covered -- you don't need advice for this. From the release notes for Emacs 29: . . .
• 16:05 UTC (new) (history) 2026-06-15 Scrolling pdfs in other windows . . . . mbork – I have written about pdf-tools quite a few times – it’s a fantastic Emacs package for viewing and annotating pdfs without leaving the comfort of Emacs. It is not ideal, though – or at least, not ideal for me. One feature of Emacs I often use is the scroll-other-window command (bound to C-M-v), and its sibling scroll-other-window-down (C-M-S-v). They are extremely useful for example when reading documentation or watching live Markdown preview, and I wish they worked with the TeX and pdf-tools duo, too. Well, it’s Emacs, so it shouldn’t be difficult to make them!

2026-06-06

• 04:54 UTC (new) (history) 2026-06-06 Copying images in Emacs . . . . mbork – A few weeks ago I was on vacation. Of course I brought back quite a few pictures with me. When I got back, I sat to select some of them to make a gallery for my family and friends. I started with copying all pictures from two mobile phones and a camera to my laptop. Then I wanted to copy a few carefully chosen images to one directory. To my surprise, Emacs’ Image mode does not have a command to copy the currently viewed image to another directory.

2026-06-01

• 20:00 UTC (new) (history) 2026-06-01 My impressions with agentic coding . . . . mbork – For the past several months I’ve been experimenting with so-called “agentic coding”, that is, using LLMs to write software. I have to say that I’m quite impressed by the possibilities this opens – and at the same time, pretty annoyed by the limitations…

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