[Orgmode] Re: Good way to try new org-mode code?

[Sébastien Vauban]

Hi Nathan,

Nathan Neff wrote:
> I'm using git to track org-mode, and would like to know if there's a way
> to switch branches / mess with code in org-mode without having to
> run make and make install when I want to test the new code.
>
> Currently, I have org-mode code in my ~/.emacs.d/src/org
> directory, and I add this directory to my load-path in my emacs file:
>
> ;; Add org-mode to path
> (setq load-path (cons "~/.emacs.d/src/org/contrib/lisp" load-path))
> (setq load-path (cons "~/.emacs.d/src/org/lisp" load-path))
>
> If I switch branches, or change some code in the above directory,
> I don't think the new code is used by emacs unless I run
>
> make clean && make && sudo make install
>
> Is there a way to have emacs read the org-mode source code "on the
> fly" without having to run make, make install, etc?
>
> Is there a way to run new code without restarting Emacs?

My solution -- since I now want to go deeper in Org (and would like to be able
to code, help, test, patch, etc.) -- would not address your last point (no
restart of Emacs), but is easy to use.

I'm using the following to add subdirectories to the `load-path' variable
(see [¹]):

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(defun my/add-to-load-path (this-directory &optional with-subdirs recursive)
  "Add THIS-DIRECTORY at the beginning of the load-path, if it exists.
Add all its subdirectories not starting with a '.' if the
optional argument WITH-SUBDIRS is not nil.
Do it recursively if the third argument is not nil."
  (when (and this-directory
             (file-directory-p this-directory))
    (let* ((this-directory (expand-file-name this-directory))
           (files (directory-files this-directory t "^[^\\.]")))

      ;; completely canonicalize the directory name (*may not* begin with `~')
      (while (not (string= this-directory (expand-file-name this-directory)))
        (setq this-directory (expand-file-name this-directory)))

      (message "Adding `%s' to load-path..." this-directory)
      (add-to-list 'load-path this-directory)

      (when with-subdirs
        (while files
          (setq dir-or-file (car files))
          (when (file-directory-p dir-or-file)
            (if recursive
                (my/add-to-load-path dir-or-file 'with-subdirs 'recursive)
              (my/add-to-load-path dir-or-file)))
          (setq files (cdr files)))))))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

and I'm using:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(defvar local-site-lisp-directory
  (concat (or (getenv "LOCAL_SHARE")
              "~/Downloads") "/emacs/site-lisp/")
  "Name of directory where additional Emacs goodies Lisp files (from the
Internet) reside.")

(my/add-to-load-path local-site-lisp-directory 'with-subdirs 'recursive)
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

to load everything under ~/Downloads/emacs/site-lisp/. Everything but the
directories beginning with a dot.

So, I could have there:

- org-mode-git
- .org-mode-6.35
- .org-mode-6.34

for example. And only the current Git version of org-mode would be loaded at
Emacs startup.

For switching to Org-mode 6.34, just remove the dot in front of the directory
name, add a dot to the current Org directory, and relaunch Emacs.

Note, though, that I'm considering the use of `.el' files only, not byte
compiled ones. But does that make a big difference?

Hope this helps.

Seb

[¹] http://www.mygooglest.com/fni/dot-emacs.html

-- 
Sébastien Vauban