Re: small emacs for using org on Android

From: Scot Becker <scot.becker@gmail.com>
To: news@aleblanc.cotse.net
Cc: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
Subject: Re: small emacs for using org on Android
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:35:43 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <e0e1fe620908290635g850070q642c160e62fdf13e@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <87eiqvizsl.fsf@it.com>

I'm not the most qualified person to answer this, since I'm only an
observer to emacs development, but I have some experience trying to
compile a reduced-size version of Emacs 23, so I'll add my two pence
until someone can inform you better.

I tried to cut down emacs for my own use (basically, an older laptop
in which I was running TinyCore linux from RAM, and wanted to put
emacs+org into RAM as well).  I found that GNU Emacs seems not to be
designed with modularity in mind.  In fact, my read of the devel list
is that the opposite virtue is espoused:  reuse existing code where
possible.  Add to this that the program (as I'm sure you know) is
quite complex.  Even if there were a smaller Lisp interpreter, it
probably would fail at a number of points to do the things that
org-mode (and the Emacs parts org depends on) needs.  In this case, I
don't think you'll get a smaller engine to drive the same car.  Sorry.

What you might have some luck with is slicing away gingerly at your
existing Emacs distribution.  For example, you might try: (1) making
sure that there are no Lisp source files for libraries which exist as
byte compiled files (delete blah.el where there is a blah.elc).  (2)
slicing the info documentation down to the bone, and gzipping the
remainder.  (3) removing modes you don't need.  This will take some
experimentation.  org-mode won't compile without 'calc' 'calendar' and
even Gnus, but might run without gnus if you don't need whatever
feature it borrows.  Also, other modes derive from more basic modes or
other wise re-use other modes' code.  So you may run into errors,
which you'll have to fix by adding the missing pieces back in.  (4)
You can cut out input methods and terminal types you don't need.  (5)
I expect Emacs 22 is smaller than emacs 23, and you may even find that
Emacs 21 meets your needs, though org-mode apparently has some
limitations on it.

I suspect that judicious experimental cutting is the only way (aside
from compression) that you'll get a smaller GNU Emacs and org mode.
Good luck.

HTH,
Scot

On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 7:00 PM, <news@aleblanc.cotse.net> wrote:
> Hi,
>   can anyone recommend a small emacs implementation that will run org?
>   I have Debian running on my G1 phone (see here:
>   http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsOnAndroid),
>   and have been running Emacs 22 on it successfully.
>   However it doesn't leave me much memory for other apps.
>
>   I have had a look through some of the implementations listed here:
>
>   http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs-en/EmacsImplementations
>
>   but it seems that most of them are not full elisp interpreters and so
>   I'm not sure that org-mode will work.
>
> --
> aleblanc
>
>
>
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