Re: how to keep .emacs files in synch

[Ekkehard Görlach]

kj <socyl@987jk.com.invalid> writes:

> I regularly work on various systems, and it's a bit of a chore to
> keep my .emacs files in synch.  I've tried various approaches, none
> entirely satisfactory.  The two issues that give me the most
> headaches are 1) to automate the process whereby changes to one
> system's .emacs file gets reflected on the .emacs files on other
> systems; and 2) to manage those modifications that are applicable
> to only one or a subset of the systems.
>
> I'd be interested to read how others solve this problem.
>

As for 2) I split my .emacs in a common .emacs and a .emacs-local. The
first thing in .emacs is to load .emacs-local. 

(load "~/.emacs-local")

This in turn defines - among other things like the default printer -
the directory where I put my extensions on that system, e.g. on a w32
box 

(setq local-site-path "e:/prog/elisp"
      local-prog-path  "e:/prog")

[ ... more local stuff ...]

Upon return to .emacs the local paths are added to my load-path

(setq load-path (cons local-site-path load-path))

Larger extensions I am then able to load on all machines in a universl
manner from whithin .emacs, e.g.

(add-to-list 'load-path
             (expand-file-name (concat local-site-path "/ess/lisp")))

Not really a big thing, but it works for me. Off course I assume that
underneath the local-site-path all systems look the same for what is
loaded in .emacs.

For a while I synched .emacs via CVS. But after a while it was pretty
stable, so I don't do this any more.

Just my two cents,
Ekkehard